The Ones Who Are Worth It (and that includes you)
by BrookyV
Summary: Clarke and the rest of the camp have finally made contact with the Arc, but is the group really ready for the aftermath of the rest of the Arc's people coming to earth? While trying to figure out this question for herself Clarke must also deal with the bane of her existence, Bellamy Blake, who may or may not be slowly working his way into her heart.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hi everyone. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my first ever published story! I'm super excited to be able to share this with you and I hope it wasn't too terrible. This work did not have a beta reader so I would like to apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors I didn't catch myself. **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or settings pertaining to this universe; I am just playing with them. **

Dusk was the most peaceful time of day on Earth; the sun dipped low between the trees bathing the world in a glow of red and gold. It was this time of day that filled Clarke with the most hope: hope for the future and hope for the 92 people still left alive. If she was being honest with herself, something she was trying to do more often now, Clarke couldn't help but feel an all-consuming sense of dread. Another day had gone by, tugging them closer to when the people still on the Arc would make the descent to earth. She knew she should be happy, by finally making contact with the Arc she was able to save Finn and countless others, but she couldn't help worrying. Maybe Bellamy's paranoia about the Council was starting to rub off on her.

"Princess," Speak of the Devil and he shall appear. Clarke didn't turn to look at him from her spot on a fallen log in the forest; she could feel his eyes on her, burning deep into her skin. "The gates are closing, time to come in." His voice still held that gruff, commanding tone but she no longer bristled at it; she had grown accustomed to his attitude.

"I'm not a child Bellamy. I don't need you to come get me, and I told you to stop calling me that."

"And I told you that I don't take orders from you, _Princess_." Clarke rolled her eyes, still not moving. The silence stretched on for a couple of seconds. "I will lock you out here; don't think you get special privileges just because you performed a miracle and saved Spacewalker."

Her shoulders tightened visibly at his jab. "And yet here you are, warning me before the gates close. If I had been anybody else, except for Octavia, you would have just closed them. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, you locked a couple out just last night. " Clarke peeked through her curtain blonde hair, from the corner of her eye; Bellamy's face was a mask of indifference, but she knew enough about him to know that he was never indifferent.

"You're the one who wanted rules Princess. Wasn't it your idea to prohibit people from being outside the walls after dark?"

"I wanted rules to keep us safe. Locking two defenseless people outside the wall for an entire night is not keeping them safe."

"I'm the one enforcing the rules, rules that you wanted. The only way people are going to take them seriously is if they see the consequences." His jaw was set and head was lifted defiantly, he was clearly preparing for an argument.

"Don't pretend you care about the rules. It was just another way to assert your dominance over the camp." Clarke stood up quickly, if they were going to argue she didn't want him towering over her any more than he already did.

"I'm all about asserting dominance, Princess." He leered at her, stepping into her personal space. His eyes smoldered dangerously.

"That look might work on your_ harem_, but you're wasting your time on me." Clarke held her ground looking up into his expressive eyes. She couldn't help feeling a tiny bit smug at the look of surprise that flashed across his face before it once again became a blank mask.

"My harem?"

"You know, the steady stream of girls flowing to and from your tent. Your fan club." He raised an eyebrow in response before a smirk settled.

"I wasn't aware that you were keeping tabs on my _activities_ Princess. It's really quite flattering."

"You're delusional. The whole camp is aware of your," She paused, mouth curling into something of a sneer "activities."

"If you wanted to spend some_ quality_ time with me all you had to do was ask." Clarke felt her stomach do a funny little swoop; did he just say what she thought he said?

"Not if we were the last two people on earth."

"If we keep getting picked off, that could be a real possibility Princess." When she didn't respond immediately, he dropped the leering act. "Why are you out here anyway?"

Clarke blinked at the abrupt change in topic but found herself answering anyway. "I needed to clear my head, and I couldn't do that in the medical tent." She shook her head before continuing. "It's gotten a bit crowded recently." She instantly regretted her words; she sounded bitter even to her own ears.

"Trouble in paradise, Princess?" She scowled in response; Bellamy knew all too well just how much trouble her 'paradise' was in, the whole camp did. "You shouldn't let them run you out of your own territory."

"We aren't animals, Bellamy. We don't claim territory."

"Maybe if you claimed territory Spacewalker would be with you right now, instead of being tended to by the Mechanic."

"I don't know what you think you are doing but you can stop it right now."

"I'm offering some advice; maybe you should listen for once in your life." His expression softened for an instant. "He's an idiot."

"You're one to talk."

"I might have a harem, as you so eloquently put it, but they know what they are getting into. I've never lied to one of my girls."

"Your girls." Disbelief was evident in her voice. "Do you even hear yourself? You sit and preach about not lying, yet at the rate you're going the entire female population of the camp will be 'your girls.' How is that any better?"

"You sound jealous Princess."

"I'm not jealous. I'm just," What? She didn't even know.

"You're just what? Sticking your nose in other people's business, like usual?"

"In case you haven't noticed, it's my job to help people. It's my job to be in their business."

"No, it's your job to heal them. Now get inside, I don't want the council on my ass for your death." He grabbed her roughly by the arm, intent on dragging her through the gate whether she liked it or not. She stumbled slightly but didn't resist; she had a suspicion that he would have just thrown her over his shoulder like a five year old had she attempted it.

"Do you think the council is actually going to forgive our crimes?" She couldn't stop the question from spilling through her lips. Bellamy's stride faltered for a second before he continued, his grip not loosening put perhaps becoming a bit gentler.

"You have nothing to worry about, Princess. Your one of the privileged, you've kept us alive. They'll forgive your crime."

"But what about the others? Jasper, Monty, your sister." _You. _

"The ones who deserve to be forgiven will be." His ambiguous answer caused her to pull back, halting their progress.

"We all deserve to be forgiven. They sent us to Earth because we were expendable. I think that we have proved just how un-expendable we really are." She took a deep breath before continuing. "They don't get to say who lives and dies, not anymore."

"Brave Princess." Unlike the last time he said it, there was no mocking or arrogant undertone. "The council isn't going to give up that kind of power without a fight." Bellamy continued walking; Clarke followed quickly trying to keep up to his long strides.

"Well isn't it good that we have a hotheaded leader. I've never seen a crowd listen to someone the way they listen to you." She admitted grudgingly knowing the truth to her words. They reached the wall before he answered her.

"You're going to have to do this one on your own Princess." His dark eyes met her blue ones. "They'll kill me on sight. I shot Chancellor Jaha; they won't forgive that any time soon."

"We won't let them." _I won't let them. _How could he talk about his own death so calmly? "We aren't people of the Arc anymore. They can't come down and just kill any of our people."

You need to learn how to pick your battles. Some of us just aren't worth it. Go back to your friends; I'm sure someone is in need of our esteemed Doctor."

He moved through the gate before she could retort quietly but that didn't stop her from yelling, "You don't get to dismiss me like some dog!" but when she made it to the other side she saw that Bellamy was already surrounded by a crowd of campers. She watched as he barked orders and appeased complaints. If she was being honest with herself, which she was trying to do more often, Bellamy Blake was a man of action; a man who had brought together one hundred convicts and helped them survive. He might not think it, but the camp needed him and maybe she needed him a little bit as well.

Brown eyes met blue for the briefest of seconds, over the crowd of people, before Bellamy turned away and Clarke watched as he slung his arm around a petite ginger and steered her in the direction of his tent. The gate closed with a resounding bang behind her and Clarke finally moved, heading back to the medical tent and closer to the problems of the very near future.

**AN: So there you have it. I'm considering expanding on this idea but I'm still undecided. Leave a comment and tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is also appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: So I've decided to continue on with this story. The response I got to this was really amazing! I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, followed or added this story to their favorites. You guys really know how to make my day! I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or settings pertaining to this universe; I am just playing with them. **

"Stay the hell away from him!" Clarke pushed her way through the ever growing crowd, cursing the idiots who seemed to think fights like this were a good source of entertainment.

"Oh please, he's the one who came after me." The second girl's voice was decidedly smug; she most likely was enjoying the attention this little spat was giving her. "And for good reason to, I mean look at you." A shriek of rage, followed by the thump of something hitting the ground, was the next thing Clarke heard.

"Get out of my way you idiots." She snarled, pushing a bit rougher than she had intended. "How the hell is this entertaining?" She asked more to herself than anybody else. But she got an answer anyway.

"Dude it's a cat fight, if they were wearing a little less clothing this would be perfect. I-I mean," The guy, who had foolishly answered, quickly back tracked once he became aware of just who he was taking to. Clarke spared him a look of disgust before continuing into the depths of the crowd, who were now cheering and catcalling.

When Clarke finally made it to the front of the crowd she paused to survey the scene. A tall, willowy brunette was straddling a slightly battered and bloody red head. The red head in question was still throwing out insults that only served to enrage the brunette more.

"You think you're something special? News flash you little bitch, he's slept with more people than just you." The brunette savagely spat out, before landing a few more hard punches. Clarke felt her body tense up; they were fighting over a guy who had slept with multiple people and, as far as she knew, only one boy in camp fit that description. The boy, man really, was standing amongst the crowd with a smug expression on his face. Of course this problem would lead back to Bellamy.

"ENOUGH!" Clarke yelled as she stepped into the circle, gripping the brunette and roughly yanking her off the red head. "I don't know why the hell you thought fighting in the middle of the camp was a good idea, but it's gone on long enough. Both of you need to calm down."

"You're not the boss of us!" The brunette screamed but stormed off without further complaint. There was a general grumbling from the crowd as they began to disperse. Clarke shook her head before turning to the red head. She looked vaguely familiar.

"Let's go. You're lucky I'm even going to treat you. From where I'm standing you did yourself more harm than good." The red head got up slowly and that's when Clarke realized who she was; she was one of Bellamy's girls. In fact, she was the very girl he had _entertained_ the previous night.

"You're one to talk. From what I heard you were the other woman in your little _situation. _So drop your attitude and take a look at your god damn reflection before passing judgment." This red head obviously had a death wish.

"I wasn't aware that I gave even the slightest inclination that your opinion mattered to me. However, I'm starting to regret my choice of stopping your rather public beating. In fact," Clarke drew herself up to her full height and now towered over the girl. She was beginning to understand why Bellamy liked to look down on the people he was arguing with; it was oddly empowering.

"Princess, how about you leave the threatening to me." Bellamy was suddenly standing behind her, amusement clearly written on his face. The red head smirked, obviously thinking that he was here to put Clarke in her place. "Why are you still here? Leave." His eyes never left Clarke but his words were clearly for the other girl. The smirk dropped from her face and she stood for a moment longer, probably thinking that Bellamy was kidding; he raised an eyebrow in response and she scurried away, throwing a dark look a Clarke.

"If I left everything to you our camp would be in pretty poor shape, oh mighty leader." Her eyes flashed brightly. "What did you hope to accomplish with this little spectacle? Are we supposed to think that you are some tough man, with girls fighting over the chance of being with you?"

"I don't know what you are taking about." He brushed past her but she wasn't letting him get away that easily.

"So this had nothing to do with you? They were fighting over some other boy who's slept with a majority of the girls here?" She laughed deservingly. "We both know they were fighting about you."

"They needed to get it out of their systems." His dismissal of the events that had just unfolded made her bristle angrily.

"You don't get to dismiss this! We need a leader who keeps the camp unified. What that was, back there, it wasn't unification." She grabbed onto his arm to get him to stop.

"A leader to keep the camp unified? If you haven't noticed, Princess, I'm the best leader we have right now." He swung around to face her, a dangerous look in his dark eyes. "If I'm not mistaken, you said the same thing yesterday."

"Since when do give a damn what I think Bellamy? You've made it pretty clear that my opinion means nothing to you." The hand on his arm tightened slightly.

"We have rules because I listened to your _opinions_. Do I value your opinions? No. Do I listen? Obviously. I don't know what the hell your problem is today but I don't need you questioning my leadership skills in front of the camp." His words made her aware that their shouting match had drawn a crowd again. "As you said, we need to keep a unified front for when the people of the Arc finally make it down here. I'll be damned if you screw this up because my leadership suddenly isn't good enough for you."

"Don't worry; you're screwing it up just fine by yourself, like always." Both of them were breathing heavier than normal and they were standing so close their chests were almost touching. Something other than anger crackled in the air between them.

Bellamy ripped his arm out of her grip, she hadn't even been aware she was still holding onto him, and his eyes narrowed coldly. "Thanks for the insight Princess, I wasn't aware I was a just a screw up to you." He stepped away from her and Clarke felt her own shock at what had just been said. Regret hit her like grounders' spear. "Get back to work. Now!" He turned his anger onto the watching crowd. In moments the crowd had dispersed, leaving a couple of stragglers but otherwise they were alone again.

The silence between them was deafening. Clarke rushed to fix the enormous blunder she had just made. "Bellamy, I didn't mean- I shouldn't have said that." She finally managed to say quietly.

"You've made your opinion clear, Princess. I've got a hunting party to lead." He brushed her apologies off briskly and left without another word. As Clarke watched him walk away an unsettling feeling of loss settled into chest. Things had just got a lot more confusing.

**AN: I hope I didn't make too many grammar or spelling errors, but if anything is completely terrible just let me know and I'll try to fix it! My next update won't be as soon as this one was; I need to take a couple days to plan out just where I want this story to go. But in the meantime feel free to leave a comment. Constructive criticism is also ****appreciated! **


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I'd like to apologize for taking so long with this chapter! I had a really difficult time writing this one; I actually rewrote it three times and I'm still not entirely happy with it. Octavia was surprisingly difficult to write, probably due to the fact that she is just one big walking contradiction: girly/tough, naïve/insightful, and stubborn/sweet. With that being said, I hope this lives up to your expectations. **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or settings pertaining to this universe; I am just playing with them. **

The fire crackled ominously as Clarke sat down on one of the fallen logs the camp used as seats; warmth radiated towards her and she felt her tense muscles slowly begin to relax. Her day, after the unfortunate confrontation with Bellamy, had been nothing less than stressful. First, the redheaded Bellamy fan had pranced her way into the medical tent demanding to be treated. Clarke couldn't flat out refuse to treat her, she had morals after all, but she had taken a tiny bit of satisfaction in knowing that the flower poultice they used would sting tremendously on her cuts; if the string of expletives that streamed from her mouth were any indication, it stung like hell. After that, Clarke had spent a majority of the morning taking inventory of their meager healing supplies; they would definitely have to make a trip to the lake for more seaweed in the upcoming days.

It was midafternoon when her day began to get interesting again. Excited shouting was heard from outside, so she had immediately assumed that the hunting party had managed to return with a decent haul. Clarke, however, had not been expecting Bellamy to burst into the tent, carrying a badly bleeding Monroe. Apparently, she had wandered away from the group and had set off a grounder trap. Clarke had to scramble furiously in order to save the girl's hand, which had been mangled almost beyond recognition; all the while she worked, Bellamy had stood in the corner with a permanent scowl on his face. When Clarke had finally deemed that she had done all that she possibly could, and that Monroe's hand most likely would be fine, he had growled "It better be" before leaving her alone with the other girl.

"You look like you're thinking hard about something." Clarke snapped out of her musing to look at Octavia, who had taken the seat beside her. She hadn't noticed the other girl's arrival, or that night had fallen.

"I'm just a little tired, Octavia. It's been a busy day." Clarke surveyed her surroundings; most of the camp had already retired to their tents.

"How is Monroe?"

"She'd be better if she wasn't so dead set of showing off for your brother. You want to know what the first thing she said to me when she regained consciousness was: _did I get that deer?_" Clarke rolled her eyes. "When I told her she'd gotten into a grounder trap, and about her hand, the only thing she was worried about was what Bellamy would think of her."

"He called her an idiot." Clarke looked at the other girl in surprise. "What? He's my brother, he talks to me."

"I wouldn't call getting caught in a grounder trap idiotic."

"Well he seems to think that if she had stayed with the group, she would have been fine."

"Oh I'm sorry; I forgot that Bellamy was the one who got the final say in what we all should think." Clarke all but snarled.

"Just because the two of you are in some big argument right now doesn't give you the right to talk to me like that." Octavia's eyes flared with anger and for a second Clarke couldn't help but notice the similarities between her and her brother. That thought alone was enough to give her anger pause.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Clarke, don't apologize. I know how much of an arrogant asshole my brother can be." She flipped her hair slightly, leveling her gaze just beyond the fire. Clarke followed the younger girls gaze, her eyes landing on the man they were currently discussing. Bellamy was leaning against the camp wall, his arms crossed and his face unreadable, staring directly at the two of them.

"Does he do that whole brooding thing often?" The question slipped out before she could think about what she was saying. Octavia snorted, a small smile gracing her elegant features.

"More often than is healthy; I think that _he _thinks it makes him look mysterious."

"Mysteriously idiotic." Both girls shared a bit of a laugh, some of the previous tension leaving their conversation; Bellamy, seeming to know that they were laughing at him, scowled and turned to talk to the girl beside him. Clarke quickly averted her eyes, she wasn't in the mood to watch his flirtatious behavior, and noticed that Octavia was giving her an odd look. "What?"

"It's nothing." Octavia smiled, shaking her head. "So… What exactly did you and my brother disagree about this time?"

"Honestly, I don't even know." Clarke returned her gaze to the fire, finding that an easier place to look than at the girl beside her. "We were sort of getting along yesterday, but then this morning there was that fight." Octavia nodded, prompting her to continue. "It was about him and he just stood there. He should have stopped it but he just stood there with this smug grin on his face."

"So you're fighting because he didn't stop the fight?" Octavia leaned back, tilting her face towards the sky.

"No. Yes. He's angrier than I am, but I think that's because of our yelling match after." Clarke frowned. "It's easy for him to say that fighting isn't a big deal; he doesn't have to deal with the aftermath like I do. I guess I probably shouldn't have called him a screw up, but that can't even be close to the worst thing he's ever been called."

Octavia's eyes shot open, her head whipping towards Clarke. "You called him a screw up?" Something in her voice made Clarke's stomach drop as she nodded. "Well then there's your problem."

"I don't understand."

"Of course you don't; I'm the only other person on Earth who understands. Clarke, Bellamy spent most of his life trying to protect my mother and I; the one, and only, time he messed up I got thrown in jail and our mother was floated."

"And when I called him a screw up I basically confirmed what he already thinks about himself. I'm a horrible person."

"You're not a horrible person. I bet you've already tried to apologize too. Bellamy's too stubborn for his own good." Octavia smiled slyly, sending Clarke a side long look. "If you want to get back into his good books just keep sending him those big wide eyed looks, he's a sucker for that kind of stuff."

"I don't send him any looks other than disgust."

"Sure you don't, just like I don't sneak off with Jasper when Bellamy is out hunting." Octavia was entirely too smug.

Clarke saw an opportunity to change the subject and pounced on it. "Aren't you worried that Bellamy will find out?"

"Not really, no. I think he might, sort of, trust Jasper with me; he did venture into grounder territory to save me, after all." Octavia's smug expression melted into one that almost made Clarke feel as if she was interrupting something private.

"So you two are together now?"

"You could say that." Octavia winked and Clarke felt her mouth open in surprise. She had known Jasper was head over heels for Octavia but she hadn't made the connection that Octavia felt the same way. "We're trying to keep it a secret, mostly so Bellamy doesn't freak out, but I just had to tell someone. You won't tell anyone, right?"

"There aren't too many people who'd be willing to talk to me anyway."

"Clarke," She sighed, twisting her hands in her lap nervously. "I know you probably don't want to talk about this right now, but you're going to have to eventually. It's not healthy to keep everything bottled up."

"There's nothing to talk about, Octavia. Finn is alive and with his girlfriend; end of Story." Clarke focused her gaze on Octavia's hands, which were still twisting. "If you have something more to say, just say it."

She raised an eyebrow but eventually chose to continue without commenting on Clarke's tone. "Have you talked to Raven?"

"Not since I saved Finn's life, why?"

"Don't you think you should? There's a reason Finn went for both of you, you know. You're more alike than you'd think."

"Octavia," Clarke warned her.

"Just listen to me. If you found out your boyfriend had been sleeping with another girl what would you have done? Other than kill the idiot."

"I would have expected the other girl to… talk to me I guess, happy now?" Clarke scowled, but had to grudgingly admit that Octavia was right.

"Not yet." Octavia stood up quickly, causing Clarke to feel slightly wary of her. "Raven, over here!" She called out as the girl in question stepped out of the tent she now shared with Finn.

"Octavia, what the hell is wrong with you?" She all but hissed as Raven sauntered her way over to them.

"I'm helping you unify the camp before the ark gets here." Octavia smiled sweetly at Clarke's look of surprise. "I might have overheard your fight with Bellamy."

"Then why did you act like you hadn't?"

"I knew if I could keep you talking long enough, you'd say something about Finn or Raven, and then I could help."

"You manipulated me."

"Manipulated is such an ugly word. I prefer coerced. Hey Raven." Octavia positively beamed at the other brunette.

"Octavia." Raven's smile cooled at bit when she turned to look at Clarke. "Clarke. What do you two want?"

"We figured you might want to sit and chat, seeing that you've been cooped up with a half conscious Finn for the past couple of days." Octavia spoke brightly, bringing a bit of warmth back to the proceedings.

"Oh. That would be good, I guess." She looked between the two girls, gaging their reactions, before taking a seat on Clarke's other side. There was a beat of uncomfortable silence before Octavia spoke again.

"I was just telling Clarke that Jasper and I are together."

Involuntarily a grin tugged on Clarke's lips. "I thought you were supposed to be keeping it a secret?"

"Why would you want to keep it a secret? Another girl might try to get with him." Raven pointed out, a bit harshly; Clarke tensed, biting her tongue to keep from making a scathing retort.

"God damn it you two! So she screwed your boyfriend, big deal. Clarke didn't even know you existed when it happened; when you did get down here she backed off. From what I've seen, you've forgiven Finn. Maybe it's time to forgive her too. Clarke, I thought you had something you wanted to say to Raven?" Octavia's voice hardened into that of a command; both girls stared at her in shock.

"Yes, uh-" Clarke cleared her throat before continuing. "Look Raven, I'm sorry. I never would have slept with Finn had known about you. I should have talked to you before now, I just didn't know how."

"Yes, you should have; but Octavia's right, I forgave Finn, I need to forgive you." Raven tilted her head slightly. "Truce?"

"Truce."

"Oh good!" Octavia smiled, clapping her hands happily. "Alright, onto more important issues. How would you two feel about having a sleep over? I've never had one before and now that the two of you are talking, I thought…" Clarke leaned back as Octavia continued to bubble with enthusiasm, a genuine smile etched on her face. She looked at Raven, who seemed a bit bemused by the whole situation, and couldn't fight off the feeling of rightness that settled into her bones. For the first time in days, life on Earth didn't seem so daunting; for the first time in days, she was home.

**AN: So there you go, I know Bellamy isn't in this chapter very much but I thought Clarke needed a bit of time to clear her head, and she can't do that with Bellamy around can she? ;) I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner this time. Please excuse any spelling or grammar errors; I tried my best to catch them all. Thanks again for reading! Until next time, reviews and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated. **


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I was originally planning on updating on Wednesday but I couldn't help myself! When I saw that my story had reached 100 followers exactly (the irony is not lost on me) I knew that I had to update as soon as possible! This chapter is pretty special to me, and personally my favorite, so I hope you all enjoy it!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or settings pertaining to this universe; I am just playing with them. **

Clarke jolted awake suddenly, her heart pounding in her chest, hands fisted tightly in the blanket covering her. Frantically, she looked around and was surprised to see Octavia curled in a tight ball beside her; Clarke briefly wondered if she slept like that because of her time under the floor, before movement on her other side caught her attention; Raven was sprawled on her back, snoring softly. It took her a moment to remember just exactly what the other girls were doing in her tent: they were having a _sleepover._ Clarke chuckled slightly, brushing her hair out of her face; it had certainly been an interesting night. _But why had she woken so suddenly?_ Clarke frowned, trying to make sense of her panic.

"Octavia!" Bellamy's shout startled her so bad she actually jumped. _What was he doing? _"Clarke, Octavia's not in her tent and I've checked the whole-" He burst into Clarke's tent, his eyes falling on the three girls, two of which were blinking bewilderedly at being woken up so suddenly.

"What the hell Bellamy?" Octavia's anger was marred by the sleep that still clung to her voice.

"You weren't in your tent. I thought the grounders- never mind what the hell I'm doing, what the hell are you doing?" If Clarke hadn't known any better she would have thought he was embarrassed.

"We'll I don't know about those two but I was sleeping." Octavia flopped back down on her make shift bed and peered up at her brother with an innocent expression on her face.

Bellamy exhaled sharply, obviously trying to control his temper. "And why are you sleeping in Clarke's tent?"

"Oh, did I forget to tell you?" She smirked at Clarke and Raven. "Clarke and I are lovers and we decided to spice things up by throwing Raven into the mix." Bellamy obviously wasn't sure if she was joking or not, his eyes flicking to each girl before coming to a rest on Clarke. "For God sake Bell, I was _joking._ We were having a sleepover and, not that it's any of your business, I like _guys_."

"A sleep over." Bellamy shook his head in disbelief. "And I know you like guys, O. I've been chasing them away since we've gotten down here. Doesn't mean you wouldn't get curious and-what the hell am I saying?" He scrubbed a hand over his face, as the girls burst out laughing.

"So tell me, fearless leader, do you ever get curious?" Raven's already husky voice dropped into a purr.

"I don't have time for this." Bellamy turned to head back outside.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." Raven called after him, causing Octavia to burst into another fit of laughter. After Bellamy left the tent, Clarke sat up and began to finger comb her tangled hair.

"Good job you two." She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Now he's going to be in a mood all day and I'm going to have to deal with it." She moved her hands to begin braiding her hair. Raven and Octavia shared a look.

"He'll get over it." Octavia grinned as she watched Clarke struggle with her hair. "Oh, let me do it." Clarke settled in front of the younger girl, whose deft fingers immediately began twisting her hair into something manageable. "So, exactly how often does my brother come barging into your tent?"

* * *

It was mid-afternoon by the time Clarke had prepared her pack for the trek she was embarking on; after Monroe's unfortunate encounter with the grounder trap, the camp's supply of seaweed was non-existent and both Finn and Monroe would need some by the end of the day. Walking with purpose, Clarke neared the wall and stopped in surprise: the gate was closed. Narrowing her eyes she quickly spotted one of Bellamy's boys guarding the gate. She stalked over to him, preparing for an argument.

"Why is the gate closed?" She demanded, coming to a halt in front of the boy.

"Bellamy's orders. No one leaves."

"Look, you can either open the gate for me or you can get out of my way and I'll open it myself." The boy shifted nervously but made no move to step aside.

"I'm not allowed to let anyone leave." He tried again, eyes sweeping the camp; he was most likely looking for Bellamy.

"Myles," He started when she said his name. "I need to get more medical supplies, if I don't Monroe could easily lose her hand." Not necessarily true, but he didn't need to know that.

"Really, Princess? Because I was just checking in on her; her hand seemed to be just fine." Myles jumped, even with his attempt to watch for Bellamy he had still been caught by surprise; Clarke didn't let him know that he had caught her off guard as well.

"Is that your professional opinion, _Doctor_ Blake?" She didn't turn to face him, continuing to look at Myles who was shifting nervously again. "We need more seaweed; infection could still easily set in."

"You can't go out today." He voice left no room for argument, but ever since coming to Earth Clarke had learned exactly how to make room.

"And why is that?" She turned to look at him, contrary to her previous decision to stare down Myles, only to find that he too was looking at Myles. "Alright, someone needs to tell me what is going on right now!"

Bellamy smirked, "Did you want to stamp your foot to emphasize that demand, Princess?" He tilted his head to Myles who, reading the silent command, quickly walked off. "Grounders were spotted by the night patrol. I made the decision close the gates so there would be less of a chance of death. Happy Princess?"

"Not particularly. I still need to go out." She turned and grabbed hold of the heavy wooden bar that was locking the gate, prepared to lift it.

"Why are you so God Damn stubborn?" He didn't seem to really be looking for a reply so she ignored him, struggling a bit with the weight of the beam before removing it.

"If I'm not back by sunset, close the gates." She told him, trying to sound more confident than she really was.

"Like hell you're going out there by yourself, Princess." He followed her outside the wall, to her annoyance.

"So what, you're going to come with me?" The grin on his face told her that that was what he intended to do. "And what match are you for a grounder?"

"More of a match than you." He lifted the hem of his shirt, showing her a particularly sharp looking knife. She was instantly reminded of the first day on Earth, when he had been showing her that he had a gun; however, this time it felt different. With the gun, she had felt fear; he could have easily turned it on her and for all she knew he would have. Now she didn't feel fear at all; if anything she felt a strange sense of safety.

Shaking off her confusing thoughts, Clarke raised her steely blue gaze to his face. "Then let's go." She began walking without checking to see if he was following or not. "You'd better not slow me down; I have other things I need to do today besides wandering around the forest with you." But when she snuck a peek over her shoulder, she could have sworn he was smiling.

* * *

"How much farther is this fucking lake?" Bellamy grumbled. The fact that Bellamy sounded like a five year old, if said five year old had a swearing problem, would have amused Clarke greatly fifteen minutes ago; but fifteen minutes ago she hadn't been trekking through the woods with only Bellamy as company.

"You know, for someone who bitches when you have to deal with camp complaints, you sure complain a lot." She observed, glancing at his sweaty and dirty profile; she doubted she looked much cleaner.

"I have never _bitched_ in my life Princess and I wasn't complaining, I was simply stating that if we don't end up at the lake in the next five minutes I am turning around and dragging you with me."

"You could try." She shot him an almost playful grin before brushing aside a large branch, revealing the beach leading to the lake. "And I guess we aren't going to find out." She stepped through the opening before letting the branch swing back, grinning to herself when she heard Bellamy mumble a string of expletives. By the time he had pushed his own way through the trees, Clarke was already ankle deep in the water.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Going to get to get the seaweed. What did you think was going to happen? That it would magically float to the shore?"

"Are you an idiot? What if one of those things that attacked Octavia is in there?"

"I've done this plenty of time Bellamy, nothing's happened to me yet."

"And how did you figure out there was nothing in there?"

"I might have just walked in." She turned towards him, continuing to walk backwards. "Now are you going to help me so I won't have to make this trip for a while, or are you too scared?" She knew that she was deliberately challenging him, but she didn't spend too much time on figuring out why. The challenge was apparently accepted because Bellamy slid off his jacket and then his shirt, leaving him bare chested. "What do you think you're doing?"

She immediately averted her gaze before realizing her mistake; quickly Clarke refocused her gaze on the half-naked man before her but the damage was done. He knew that he was making her uncomfortable. "Problem Princess?" He waded towards her and it took all her willpower to stop herself from running for the shore.

"Not that I see." She turned and reached for a clump of seaweed, deliberately ignoring him.

"So you like what you see?"

"I didn't say that!"

"You didn't have to." His grin was laced with such knowing that she wanted to hit him.

"You're an insufferable asshole." Turning away before she could do anything she regretted Clarke made her way to the shore, a bundle of seaweed in tow.

"Lighten up Princess." The words were punctuated by a splash of water, completely drenching the dry half of her body.

"Bellamy Blake!" She shrieked, turning back to find him holding his hands up innocently; she wasn't fooled, very few things about him were innocent.

"My bad Princess, I thought I saw one of those water snakes." There was a twinkle in his eye that she had never really seen before; a twinkle that tugged a little bit on her heart. Instead of answering she splashed him back. He sputtered in a very undignified way, which only caused her to laugh harder. "Don't start something you aren't prepared to finish." He warned her, the intensity causing her to blink.

"Oh I intend to finish it." She raised her hand, preparing to splash him again, but paused when she saw the serious look on his face. "What?"

"Nothing." He turned to grab a bundle of his own. "We just shouldn't be making so much noise. The grounders will find us if we keep it up."

"You're right. We need to get back to camp." She picked up her bundle, feeling slightly awkward under his gaze. They both made their way quietly to the shore a tension that had never really been present before hovered in the air. Clarke scrambled silently, trying to find a way to smooth over the awkwardness; to her surprise Bellamy beat her to it.

"Thank you for having that sleepover with Octavia. It really means a lot to her." His shirt and jacket were back on and he walked past her before she could answer. She had to break into light jog to keep up with his long legged strides.

"You don't need to thank me. I wanted to do it." He slowed his stride to give her an incredulous look; allowing for Clarke to slow to a walk. "I like your sister; she has a unique way of looking at the world."

"Living in a little room for your entire life can do that to a person." He tried to pass it off as if it were no big deal, but Clarke could tell that he was really proud of his sister.

"I honestly think she gets it from you." The moment of honesty burst out of her before she could stop it.

"Was that a compliment Princess?"

"Maybe. Don't let it go to your head, Blake." She nudged his arm playfully with her elbow, successfully diffusing the tension that had been building between them.

"I didn't plan on it."

* * *

The camp wall was in sight when Clarke finally spoke again. "Bellamy, wait." Her hand shot out, gripping his arm to slow him down. "Before we go back, I just- I wanted to say that I'm sorry for calling you a screw up yesterday. I shouldn't have said it and-"

"Princess, it's alright. "

"It's not alright because it's not true." Clarke persisted, stepping closer to him; so close that she had to tilt her head up to look at him.

"Clarke-" Whatever he was about to say was abruptly cut off by the sound of the gate doors slamming open, followed by shouting.

"Well someone needs to go out and find her!" They heard Finn before they saw him, disapproval lacing his tone; however, the look on his face when he finally made it through the gate was one of anger. He froze when he saw the two of them. "Where have you two been?" The look on his face made Clarke pause before answering; _what was his problem?_

"We've been doing work, Spacewalker. I know it's hard to believe, but the camp has carried on without you." Bellamy's voice had lost the kindness that had been there only seconds earlier; he was once again the ruthless leader. "Why are you even out of your tent? I was under the impression that could barely move; why else would you allow your girlfriend to wait on you hand and foot?"

"Bellamy." Clarke warned, her fingers tightening slightly on his arm. It was then that she realized exactly how this must look to Finn. She was standing incredibly close to Bellamy; so close it was almost intimate, the fact that she was still holding onto him didn't help things. She watched as Finn straightened his shoulders and was surprised to find that Bellamy was doing the same. "Finn," She let go of Bellamy's arm and took a step forward. "What is going on?"

"While you two were out _working,_" She wasn't impressed with the way he said working but let it slide for the time being. "The Arc radioed down."

"How long ago?" Clarke felt her heart rate pick up, _what could the Arc possibly want now?_

"About an hour ago." His eyes found Bellamy again. "They want to talk to our leader."

"Clarke is doing the talking." Bellamy's voice was firm, but Clarke knew just how scared he had to be feeling.

"Scared Blake?" Finn apparently had deduced the same thing.

"Clarke!" Octavia ran through the gate; skidding to a halt beside Finn, her entrance brought a brief distraction from what most likely would have turned into a fight. "You need to hurry. The Arc just radioed again. They said it's urgent."

**AN: I made sure to give you lots of Bellamy and lots of Bellarke moments seeing as the last chapter was severely lacking in them both. Thanks again to for all the lovely reviews and follows! I tried to catch all of my mistakes, but I most likely missed something. Sorry about that. If anything's too terrible make sure you let me know. As always, reviews and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated! **


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hello Everyone! Sorry this one took a little longer; I wanted to make sure it was perfect before sending it out to all you lovely readers. Thank you again to all of my reviewers and followers, it means a lot to me that you are all taking the time to read this story. I'd also like to thank TheWildOne1 for letting me bounce my ideas off of her; this chapter still probably wouldn't be done if it wasn't for her. Hopefully this chapter lives up to all of your expectations!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or settings pertaining to this universe; I am just playing with them. **

Clarke strode quickly and determinedly towards the drop ship, Octavia keeping an even pace with her; the two boys followed closely behind, hostility from their _conversation _still thick in the air. She could feel the eyes of every camper they passed, watching with such an intense curiosity it made her feel unnerved; all of these people were counting on her. All of the doubts that had plagued her mind not even two days ago came creeping back; she had no idea what she was doing. The council had decades of experience when it came to handling the affairs of others.

"Clarke, you don't have to do this." Bellamy's hand came down softly on her shoulder when she paused for just a second too long before entering the drop ship. "We can figure something else out."

"Like what? You've made it pretty clear that you won't be doing any of the talking." The snarl broke free from her before she could stop it. "I'm the only person we have." She roughly pulled her shoulder from his grasp and continued into the ship. Deep down she knew she was taking out her insecurities on him, but she ignored it. Bellamy, for once in his life, chose not to say anything in response. Finn, however, had to open his mouth.

"Why don't you go do something useful, Blake? I think Clarke and I have it under control." Both Blake's turned towards him, clearly not sure which one he was speaking too.

"I'm staying." They answered at the same time, scowls on both their faces; Clarke had to wonder if all siblings possessed the same qualities, or if anger was just a Blake family trait.

"Arc to Earth. Arc to Earth." The radio crackled, causing Clarke's heart to drop; she couldn't put this off any more. She grabbed the headset, thankful that she had gained her mother's unshakable hands. _Her mother…_ No she didn't have time to go there.

"Earth to Arc. This is Clarke Griffin. Who am I speaking with?" Her voice came out strong, not belaying any of her true emotions.

"Clarke," The voice on the other end sounded almost surprised. "This is Chancellor Jaha. I was not aware that it was you leading the 100." The Chancellors' voice calmed her nerves slightly; she had had millions of conversations with this man, the man who had been her best friend's father. His voice didn't bring comfort to everyone. She watched as Bellamy's shoulders seamed to grow rigid, attempting to hold back the guilt she knew he was feeling; her hand twitched towards him and his jaw hardened. She turned away from him quickly, now was not the time for comfort.

"There is a lot that you are not aware of, Chancellor." She bit her lip before continuing. "There are _92_ of us now, I am not leading _the 100."_ Silence reached her ears for two long beats of her heart.

"I did not mean any offense. You are leading the ones still alive?"

"I'm filling in."

"For who?"

"I don't think that's really important at the moment Chancellor."

"Clarke," He clearly wasn't pleased with her evasion. "We have urgent matters to discuss, matters that will need to involve your _temporary_ leader."

"If the matters are so urgent, then why are we still discussing non-essentials? I will pass what is said onto our leader." Clarke was not impressed with the way he had stressed the word temporary. The Arc was not going to come down and take over again. "Do you not trust me?"

The Chancellor sighed, clearly frustrated with how the conversation was proceeding. "Are you alone?" Clarke felt her pulse race at the simple question; Octavia and Finn, who had both been pretty indifferent to the conversation up until then, jerked in surprise. Bellamy was the only person who didn't show shock to the question asked; he simply nodded, encouraging her to answer.

"Yes." Clarke swallowed hard; this couldn't be good.

"It is important that what I am about to say stay between you and I Clarke; and your leader, whoever they may be. Do you understand?"

"Chancellor Jaha, I am not a child and I don't appreciate you treating me like one. _I will not tell anyone._" She was fed up with this conversation; she needed answers.

"As you are aware, the Arc is dying. 320 people have sacrificed themselves in order to buy us time but I'm afraid it isn't enough."

"What are you saying?"

"It will take us at least another week before we are prepared enough to send the next drop ship. This means another 400 people will have to be sacrificed."

"400." Clarke felt her heart plummet; she grabbed onto the first solid thing her hand came in contact with, trying to anchor herself to reality. It was purely by coincidence that said object happened to be Bellamy's hand; even more shocking, perhaps, was that he didn't pull away. He twisted his hand slowly until his big hand engulfed her smaller one. "Is there no way to speed things up?"

"We have considered all of our options; this is the only feasible one."

"How many will be coming down?" Clarke ran a hand over her face, attempting to regain her composer. She was only slightly aware of the fact that Octavia had moved away from the radio, clearly not wanting to hear anything else.

"We will be sending 200." Chancellor Jaha sounded weary and defeated.

"720 people dead and you can only send 200?" Clarke didn't know where the anger was coming from but it burst forth in a wave. "There had to be something else, some way to obtain maximum capacity for more than 200. Have you talked the engineers?"

"We have done all that we can. We should be grateful that we are able to send the 200 down. We should consider it an accomplishment that we will, in little more than a week, have 300 people down on the Earth."

Bellamy's hand tightened dangerously around hers; Clarke spoke quickly, trying to stop Bellamy from interjecting angrily. "You sent us down here to die; as far as we are concerned, we are no longer your people. You will only have 200 people on the ground."

"You may have a different leadership for the moment, young lady, but it would do you well to remember that power is never lasting. Your people will rejoin the Arc."

"Your right, _Jaha_, power doesn't last. Your power doesn't last either. Down here, we make our own rules."

"So you are determined not to join us. I am sure time will change that." He almost sounded amused.

"I wouldn't be so certain. Are there any other pressing issues?"

"You are your mother's daughter." The fondness in his tone made her cringe; she didn't want to be reminded of her mother. "There is someone here who wishes to speak with you."

"Clarke?" _No please. Not here. Not now._

"Mom?" In that instant Clarke had never hated herself more. She had sounded weak and terrified. Desperate.

"Clarke. Oh God. It's so good to hear your voice. I was so worried I'd lost you." Her mother sounded just as desperate, just as terrified. It reminded Clarke of the anger she was harboring inside.

"You're the reason I'm down here!" Her outburst was louder than she had intended it to be; Bellamy looked at her curiously, obviously not expecting anger to be a part of this reunion.

"Clarke I never wanted-"

"You never wanted what, Mom? You never wanted me to get arrested? You never wanted me to go to Earth?" A sob escaped her throat before she could contain it. "You never wanted me to find out that I was blaming Wells for something he didn't even do? I lost my best friend because of you."

"I'm sorry, Baby. Please I'm so sorry."

"You lied to me! You turned in Dad, not Wells. You're the reason Dad is dead! It's all your fault!" There, now her dirty secret was out; Bellamy and Octavia could do with it what they wished.

"Clarke." Her mother was crying on the other end; Clarke couldn't do this anymore, she needed to end this conversation.

"I will never forgive you."

"Clarke, please. Just let m-" Clarke frantically pushed the off button, cutting her mother off mid apology. Silence filled the drop ship for a couple seconds, the other occupants clearly unsure what to do.

"Princess," Bellamy's voice was what finally broke the silence. His hand, still wrapped around hers, tightened softly offering more comfort than any words could have. Clarke didn't think; she turned burying her face into Bellamy's chest. It was then, for the first time since coming to Earth that Clarke finally broke down and cried.

* * *

"-me explain. Clarke? Clarke?" Abby Griffin sobbed desperately waiting for a reply. None came.

"I think she turned off the radio." The Chancellor's voice was full of sympathy, his eyes sad.

"I can't live with this; I can't live with the fact that my own daughter wants nothing to do with me." She closed her eyes, trying to keep her tears at bay.

"You will have plenty of time to talk this out in person with your daughter once you get to Earth. You'll be with her in just over a week."

"A week is a long time. They have only been down there fifteen days and ten of them have already died." She paused, looking at the Chancellor in suspicion. "I'm not supposed to be going on the first ship down. I thought the plan was that I would stay up here to help the sick."

"The council has decided on a different plan, Abby. It's best if you just do what you are told."

"I'm not that kind of person, as you very well know. What are you planning?" Abby was truly frightened by the intensity on the man's face.

"I am not planning anything. The council has seen fit to make a tough decision I most likely would not have made on my own." He sighed, a frown gracing his features. "The council and their families; our best doctors, mechanics, farmers and their families; along with many of the guards, will be among the 200 on the first shuttle down to earth." He paused, before continuing. "This will be the only shuttle going to Earth."

"Only one." She breathed sharply, trying to wrap her head around what was being said. "Thousands of people will be dead if you do that."

"We can't save everyone Abby." He raised his voice, frustrated with the situation he was in.

"More people can be saved than just 200. We have enough ships to bring at least twice that many down." Another thought hit her hard, steeling the breath from her. "How do you plan on stopping the others from coming down?"

"As we speak, a kill switch is being designed. After our drop ship leaves the switch will trigger sleeping gas within the ventilation system. The oxygen will be cut off shortly after."

"And thousands of people will just cease to exist. How can you let this happen? You are supposed to protect these people!" Abby was pleading now, trying to get her old friend to see reason

"It is no longer your concern. When you were removed from the council you stopped making these decisions. I shouldn't have told you any of this." He looked sharply at her, taking in her features. "This is not to be told to anyone."

"Do I look like a fool?"

"You look like the woman I know you to be." The Chancellor turned, motioning to one of the guards at the door. "The same woman who told the entire population of the Arc that their home was dying. We can't have a repeat of that, _incident._" The guard moved to her side, grasping her arm firmly.

"The panic that would ensue would be enough to ruin the Arc. I would never cause that to happen."

"You are lucky your last stunt did not end in panic." The guard moved quickly, cuffing her wrists behind her back.

"What are you doing?" She struggled faintly, too confused to put up an actual fight.

"Removing potential complications. You will be put into solitary confinement until the date of our departure." His expression softened. "I am sorry, Abby."

"No, do _not_ feel sorry for me. Feel sorry for yourself, Chancellor." She allowed herself to be pulled towards the door. "The death of these people is on you. You will have to live with your decision." The door slammed shut behind her, but not before she saw the defeated look upon the Chancellor's face.

* * *

Clarke had known that Bellamy was extremely talented at talking unexpected outcomes in strides, but she had always thought his limitations would be the same as any other man confronted by a crying woman; that he would be inept and sub-par. She had never been more wrong. There had been a second of awkwardness before he had wrapped her in a tight embrace, trying to hold her together.

She wasn't sure how long they stood like that, her crying in his solid, comforting embrace. Nothing else mattered, no one else mattered; it was just him and her, his hand smoothing over her hair as he mumbled things too quietly for her to hear. Once again, he was taking everything she thought she knew about him and twisting it up; creating a mess of feelings that she couldn't deal with, not after the conversation she had just had with her mother.

As her sobs gradually slowed to a stop, she suddenly realized what she had just done. She had broken down in front of Bellamy; she had let him hold her, had let him see her at her weakest. _Oh_ _God_, _what had_ _she done?_ He must have sensed he uneasiness, or maybe he was just as uneasy as her, because he slowly moved his arms away from her. Clarke stepped back slowly, determinedly looking anywhere but the man beside her; this unfortunately meant that her eyes met Finn's. His face spoke volumes about what he thought about the situation that had occurred; his eyes were murderous.

"I wouldn't have pegged you as an ugly crier, Princess." And ugly it was; she knew her eyes got puffy and red when she really cried. Bellamy's voice sounded amused but she knew he was attempting to diffuse the situation.

"Everyone is an ugly crier, Bellamy." She didn't know what else to say, everything was so wrong.

"Not me."

"You are too Bellamy, don't lie." Octavia interjected, being the bratty little sister she loved to be.

"When was the last time you saw me cry, Sis?" Clarke watched the siblings banter back and forth, trying to regain her composer; movement out of the corner of her eye brought her attention to the fact that Finn was moving towards her. She steeled herself for his judgment but he brushed past her, heading straight for Bellamy. He roughly grabbed the other boys arm, anger radiating from every part of him. "Can I help you with something, Spacewalker?" Bellamy didn't snarl, but his voice was dangerously low.

"Stay the fuck away from Clarke."

"Finn-" Clarke tried to interject but was cut off by Bellamy.

"I don't take orders from anybody, especially you." Bellamy jerked his arm out of Finn's grip, his eyes narrowing.

"It's not an order, more like a _suggestion_." Finn responded. Octavia slid closer to the door, clearly torn between running for help and staying with Clarke.

"I _suggest_ you walk away, now."

"Stay away from Clarke and I will."

Bellamy's eyes met hers briefly, before he focused on Finn again. "I think she is capable of telling me to stay away herself."

"You wouldn't listen to her even if she did." He accused, stepping closer.

"You might be right about that." Bellamy conceded, a small grin gracing his features.

"She doesn't need you taking advantage of her." Octavia apparently knew exactly how this confrontation was going to end for she ran out the door, going to get help.

"You're one to talk Spacewalker. Sleeping with her because it was _convenient_ for you? Picking up right where you left off with your girlfriend the second she gets down here? I think that you have taken advantage of her more than I have."

"I would never-"

"Using her to re-stitch your wound every other day; do you think she's realized just exactly what you and Raven have been doing to pull them?" Clarke breathed in sharply at this new revelation; she may not feel as strongly about Finn as she thought she did, but it still hurt knowing he had continued on so fast.

"Stop it both of you!" Clarke was fed up with the whole male dominance act; this needed to be finished now. Again she was ignored.

"Clarke isn't stupid enough to fall for your act Blake. She's seen the train of girls leaving your tent. You use people." Both men clenched their fists, eyes flashing. _Where was Octavia?_

To her surprise Bellamy actually laughed. "Your real problem isn't me using her, Spacewalker. You're worried that when Raven gets fed up with your mixed emotions and leaves you, Clarke won't be waiting anymore. You're worried that you'll find her in _my_ bed." The smirk on his face was short lived, Finn's fist making contact almost instantly.

Bellamy staggered back a step, before throwing a punch of his own, a punch with much more accuracy and force than Finn's; Bellamy was a fighter. A sickening crunch filled the drop ship and Finn was on the floor, sprawled at his feet. Bellamy advanced towards him with all the grace of a deadly panther.

"Bellamy." Clarke stepped towards the two men, both who were breathing heavily. She kept her voice calm, quiet. "Stop, please." To her surprise Bellamy actually listened. The door of the drop ship burst open to let in Octavia, Jasper, and Monty. The scene before them was most likely not what they had expected.

"It looks like you have a patient to take care of, Princess." He used his no nonsense leader voice, his eyes fell on Monty and Jasper. "Don't you two have work to do?" He didn't spare her a second glance before leaving; the two boys scuttled nervously out of his way before following him out. Clarke didn't move from where she was standing. _What the hell was going on?_

"Alright Spacewalker, you need your face looked at." Octavia said somewhat coldly when it became apparent that Clarke was making no move to do it herself.

"Octavia its fine, I've got it." Clarke sighed, turning to see Finn sitting on one of the makeshift medical beds. They needed to have a little _talk _anyway.

**AN: So apparently fight scenes aren't my forte but hopefully it wasn't too terrible! I'd also like to explain my reasoning as to why Clarke didn't step in and stop the fight herself. I know that Clarke is a very capable, strong woman but I feel that she would know better than get in between two guys who are going to fight; especially when they are both bigger than her. On a related note, I know I might have wrote Finn as more of an asshole than he actually is, but in my defense I wrote this after watching 1x08 and boy did he piss me off with the whole "You and Bellamy are leading us down a dangerous path" comment. I'm sure I'll redeem him eventually though.**

**Hopefully I caught all of my spelling and grammar mistakes but feel free to correct me if anything's too terrible. As always comments and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated! (And sorry for the incredibly long authors note!) **


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hello everyone! I don't have a lot to say this time around. Thank you to everyone who is taking the time to read this story! I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or settings pertaining to this universe; I am just playing with them. **

Tension steadily built-in the drop ship as Clarke began to inspect Finn's wounds; his nose was slightly crooked and swelling noticeably, blood covering almost everything. From what she could tell, it looked like his nose was broken and, if the purple marks beginning to show under his eye where any indication, he would most likely have one hell of a shiner. _Great. _

"Clarke-" She completely ignored the fact that he was trying to talk to her, turning to face Octavia instead.

"Can you run and get me some water to clean this mess up? I thought I had some in here but I must have used it all on the last patient."

"Ya, sure." Octavia walked to the door giving Finn a dirty look. "You're going to need a lot more than water to clean up the mess Finn had just created, by the way."

"I didn't start anyth-"

"While you're out there, make sure your brother hasn't murdered anybody." Clarke cut him off again; she didn't need another Blake attacking him.

"If he was going to kill someone he would have killed this assh-," She stopped short, seeing the look of exasperation the older girl was sending her. "Alright I'm going." The second Octavia left, Clarke could feel the tension in the air intensify; it made her painfully aware that this was the first time she had been alone with Finn since Raven had come to Earth. She could feel Finn's eyes on her back as she busied herself with finding a cloth to help stop Finn's blood from flowing.

"Are you going to let me talk?" He didn't sound angry, just irritated.

"Like how you let me talk when you were telling Bellamy to stay away from me?" She snapped at him, finally finding a spare bit of cloth.

"He isn't good for you."

"Clarke," Octavia stepped back into the ship carrying a rag soaked with water. She passed it off to the other girl a worried expression on her face. "I didn't see Bellamy anywhere out there. I'm going to go keep looking for him, if you don't need my help here?"

"He's probably dealing with an issue in camp but go ahead. I'll be fine." She smiled softly at the other girl. "Just don't leave the camp alone. Alright?"

"Why does everyone keep treating me like a toddler? I am capable of looking after myself." Octavia actually stamped her foot, making Clarke's smile grow even more.

"You chased a butterfly around the camp the other day." She pointed out which earned her a glare. "But seriously Octavia, you were taken by grounders once; I don't want you to go missing again."

"Fine." Octavia pouted. "Way to guilt trip me Clarke. I'm still going to go look around camp for him though."

"Have fun." Clarke turned back to Finn. "I'm going to have to clean you up a little before I reset your nose." She stepped forward cautiously, extending her free hand slowly towards his face. Grasping his chin gently with her left hand she tilted his chin up and softly used the cloth to wipe at the blood. Her eyes met his for a brief moment, pain lancing through her chest at the look he was giving her. He wasn't supposed to look at her like that anymore and that thought hurt her more than it should have.

"I mean it Clarke. He's just going to hurt you." All of the hurt she had been feeling just seconds before pulsed violently, churning into anger.

"_You're_ the only one who's hurt me." Her grip tightened slightly on his chin, his eyes widening in surprise at her tone. "This is going to hurt a bit." She put the rag down, using her now free hand to push the cartilage of Finn's nose back into place.

"Ow, fuck." Finn tried to pull away but she held him still, finishing the job. "I didn't mean to hurt you Clarke. You know that."

"I'm not discussing this right now." She said stoutly, removing her hand from his chin to grab the scrap of cloth. His hand shot out, grabbing onto her wrist before she could move away.

"Then when? You've been avoiding me since Raven got down here." She pulled her wrist from his grasp, heart pounding in her chest.

"Use this to put pressure on your nose. Tilt your head back a bit, it will slow the bleeding." She handed him the cloth, jaw set stubbornly. She wasn't allowed to feel like this; she was supposed to go on with her life and pretend like nothing was wrong. She was supposed to be over him.

He did what she instructed and she backed up until she was leaning against the make shift table, putting as much distance between them as she could; she tried not to think about how she was treating him way differently than how she typically treated her patients. "Am I doing this right?" His voice was slightly muffled by the cloth.

"Yes." Her voice sounded high-pitched to her own ears. "Just hold it for another couple minutes and it should stop bleeding."

"It seems like you've been patching me up a lot lately." There was softness to his voice that she hadn't heard since that night in the bunker.

"You've been doing a lot of stupid things lately."

"What I just did was not stupid."

"You started a fight with _Bellamy Blake._" She raised an eyebrow.

"You used to be the one starting fights with the _Great Bellamy Blake._" The scowl on his face didn't sit well with her; Finn was supposed to be happy and care free, not angry. "I don't know what he did to make you change your mind, but he's leading you down a dangerous road."

"Your right." She locked eyes with him, blue eyes steel determination. "You _don't _know what he's done to change my mind. He's trying to keep us alive, Finn; that means I need to try to get along with him for the sake of everyone."

"He's only looking out for himself! He will use you; that's what he does."

"I trust him!" The admission sprang from her lips, taking both of them by surprise.

"You can't be serious." Disbelief colored his voice and she found herself bristling angrily.

"I am."

He stood suddenly, the cloth dropping from his hand; thankfully, his nose had finished bleeding. "What are you doing? Are you trying to get back at me for not telling you about Raven? Because there are plenty of other ways to do it that don't involve sleeping with Bellamy." She stared at him shock before her hand shot out. _Smack! _Her open palm made contact with the un-bruised side of his face, causing his head to snap to the side.

"Don't ever suggest that I would sleep with _anybody_ for the sole purpose of getting back at you. I am not that kind of person and if you don't know that, then it just shows how little you actually know about me." She was a little shocked by her actions; never before had she hit someone out of anger. He looked just as shocked, his hand touching his face.

"As much as I'm enjoying this, I'm pretty sure slapping your patients isn't very professional." Octavia was back in the door way; her voice was amused but her face was serious. "Also, you might want to get out here; you probably aren't going to like this."

Clarke spared Finn one final glance before rushing to the door. "What's going on?"

"Well I found Bellamy; turns out he's holding a meeting." _Oh shit._ They moved quickly through the tents, stopping in the middle of the camp where a large group was gathered.

"-The Arc thinks that when they get down here, we will be waiting for them to tell us what to do!" His voice carried through the air. "Are you going to just allow them to come in and take over everything we've worked for?" Angry shouts from the crowd met his words. "Are you going to let them take away your new-found freedom?" The shouts were louder. "They think that we'll be begging for them to look after us; they think that with the upcoming winter we can't possibly survive on our own."

As Clarke listened to him speak, with that charismatic charm he possessed, she couldn't help but be slightly impressed. He was single-handedly rallying the masses; whether that was a good thing or not was yet to be decided. "I think their wrong!" The cheers that simple line said brought were very impressive. "We are going to show them exactly what they did when they sent 100 _kids_," He spat the word with contempt. "-down to earth because they were expendable. And we are going to do it by staying united. We are going to do it by becoming permanent." He spread his arms wide, gesturing to his surroundings.

"We have little over a week before the Arc gets down here. Is this what you want them to see when they get down here? Make shift tents that are easily removed?" Shouts of _no_ rang out; Clarke had to smile when Octavia joined in. "We have a week. I say we use the time we have to start on something permanent."

"Like what?" A voice called out; to Clarke's surprise, Bellamy actually smiled.

"We are going to build permanent structures." An excited murmur ran through the crowd. "Buildings that will keep us alive during the winter and show the Arc that we are here to stay!"Clarke found herself feeling a bit excited about the prospect of building permanent residence; she never would have expected this idea to come from Bellamy though. As much as she said she trusted him, she still would have pegged him for inspiring a riot against the Arc; he was too hot-headed for his own good in most situations. "Work on these building will be started tomorrow; everyone's help will be needed." He stood for a second, letting his words sink in before turning casually and heading into his tent.

"Clarke, where are you going?" Upon hearing Octavia's voice, Clarke realized that she had been moving forward towards where Bellamy had just disappeared.

"I need to talk to your brother."

"You mean yell."

"Only if he starts it." Clarke gave the younger girl a small, affectionate smile before continuing forward with a purpose. The excited buzz from the people around her electrified the blood in her veins; for one tiny moment, she allowed herself to hope that things would be alright.

* * *

Raven stood at the edge of the group; she was not one of the original 100, and was having trouble gauging just where her standing was among these people. She was the mechanic who had made it possible to contact the Arc, but they still seemed wary of her. She watched as Bellamy stood in front of everyone, his voice demanding and strong; two traits she greatly admired in a person. Raven had never been much of a people person, machines were more her speed, but she couldn't help but respect Bellamy's seemingly flawless leadership.

A flash of blonde caught her attention, announcing the presence of Clarke. Clarke was another thing that was making it difficult to find her place among the 100. The entire camp knew about the tedious triangle that was her relationship with Finn. Even though they had called a truce, it was still hard for her to see the other girl at times. She was a constant reminder of Finn's infidelity, something that grated on her nerves.

"Buildings that will keep us alive during the winter and show the Arc that we are here to stay!" The cheers that followed his words pierced Raven's heart. These people really thought that they had a chance of resisting the Arc; she didn't understand why anybody would be buying this false hope, the Arc always won. This situation was no different. "Work on these building we will be started tomorrow; everyone's help will be needed."

"Hey." Finn touched her shoulder lightly as Bellamy turned and left the crowd.

"Hey, I was wondering where you were. You missed all the fun." Her smile died on her lips as she turned and got a good look at her boyfriend. "What the hell happened to you?" Half his face was turning a discolored purple-black, his right eye almost completely swollen shut, and his nose had definitely been broken.

"I was having fun." He flashed his trademark grin.

"Finn." Her voice held a warning; dishonesty had become one of her major pet peeves.

"I had a disagreement with one of the other guys."

"Well I hope he looks worse than you." She touched his cheek softly with her finger tips tilting his head down so that she could get a better look. "What was it about?" She kissed his bruise lightly, her arms sliding carefully around his neck. He didn't answer right away, causing her to pull back slightly; his eyes were trained on something in the distance. Following his gaze, she felt her stomach drop: he was watching Clarke step into Bellamy's tent. _Clarke. Of course._ She looked into his eyes, wishing that he was looking at her like that. "Finn?"

"Hmmm?" He hadn't even heard her previous question; uncertainty bubbled through her, causing her to blurt out what she had been thinking since coming to earth.

"Do you love me?" That caught his attention. He stared at her for a second; probably trying to figure out how they had even got on this topic.

"Always." Irrationally she felt her heart expand at his assurance.

"Ok then." She pulled him in for a long kiss, trying to forget everything and move on; it almost worked. Sighing softly she pulled away; his eyes were dark and full of lust. "What happened?" She asked again.

"I had a disagreement with Bellamy." He kissed down her neck softly; she wished she could just close her eyes and enjoy his attention; however, her mind was whirling too much to do so. She slid away from his burning lips.

"_Bellamy _did this to you?" Her mind turned quickly, changing courses to deal with this new information. She might not be able to take her anger out on Clarke, for obvious reasons, but Bellamy was someone who could be an outlet. She turned stiffly, marching towards the tent both he and Clarke were now occupying.

"Raven, where are you going?" The nervousness in Finn's voice only made her angrier.

"To give Bellamy a piece of my mind." _And maybe her fist._

* * *

"Bellamy." Clarke pushed open the flap of the tent and stepped inside. "Oh!" Her eyes slid over his naked chest before she hastily looked away, cheeks flaming. "What do you have against wearing a shirt?"

"Absolutely nothing." He sprawled lavishly across the pallet of furs he used as a bed, a smug grin working its way onto his face. "Women, however, seem to have objections." He winked at her, causing Clarke to blush even worse.

"Don't flatter yourself Bellamy." Clarke tried to regain her composure, cursing him for affecting her.

"What do you want Clarke?" He had apparently decided to take pity on her scattered thoughts.

"To talk about what you just said out there."

"I'm not changing what I said." He closed his eyes and put an arm behind his head. "We need to take a stand. You're going to have to deal with it."

"You should have talked to me first." Her eyes scanned the tent, spotting one of the seats from the drop ship; she gracefully sat down on it.

"I'll make sure to run the next meeting by you first, Princess." The sarcasm was marred by weariness.

"Make sure you do that." She watched him carefully, looking for signs of irritation but finding none. For a couple seconds Clarke allowed her eyes to roam his toned chest and arms; she would have to be blind not to notice how attractive he really was. But she wasn't stupid; Bellamy Blake was a fire that had a tendency to burn too bright. Silence stretched between them.

"Something else you want?" He finally asked.

"It's a good idea. I'm really impressed and I'll back you up on it completely." She admitted in a rush of words; his eyes opened in surprise. "I figured we could work together to figure out the schematics and fine details."

"You want to work together?" He clarified; she nodded. "Do you know if there is anything we can use to draw some blueprints?"

"Yes." She debated what she was about to do before continuing. "I know where we can get some supplies. There's a bunker not too far away from here. I can go and be back within the hour." She stood up and walked towards the tent flap.

"You're not going anywhere outside the wall by yourself." Bellamy's hand caught her wrist pulling her to a stop. _When had he gotten up? _

"Then let's go." She continued out of the tent, smiling at the muttered words he shot at her. The smile on her face was almost completely erased by the sight that greeted her. Finn and Raven where standing close to the drop ship, kissing passionately. She sucked in a sharp breath, unable to pull her eyes away from what was unfolding in front of her. Clarke was trying to move on, God was she trying, but seeing their public displays of affection tore away all the progress she thought she had been making.

"Are you ready?" Bellamy's voice behind her caused her to jump. She pulled her eyes away from the couple across the clearing, pushing down her emotions before Bellamy could see them.

"Yes." As the two set off, Clarke resolutely made a promise to herself; she was done letting herself be the victim of love warfare. She was done with these feelings of rage and pain; it was time to put everything behind her. It was time to move on.

**AN: The Raven/Bellamy confrontation will be coming in a later chapter because I thought there was enough drama and angst in this chapter without adding anymore. The next chapter will be another Bellarke trip, which are personally my favorite scenes to write. I also took a couple of lines from 1x08. If there are any spelling/grammar mistakes feel free to let me know; I tried to catch them all. As always comments and constructive criticism are appreciated! **


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Alright so first of all I want to apologize for all of my spelling mistakes in the last chapter. I would like to thank everyone who pointed them out; I have gone back, fixed those errors, and reposted the chapter. I would also like to apologize for my updating being so unpredictable; everyone who has chosen to stick with me, I can't thank you enough. You really make my day with your reviews and follows! That being said I hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or settings pertaining to this universe; I am just playing with them. **

A tense silence built between Clarke and Bellamy as they made their way through the forest; the sun was beginning to set, casting shadows that made them increasingly wary. At the rate they were moving, they wouldn't make it to the bunker before nightfall.

"We should have waited until morning before heading out." Bellamy voiced the very thought that was running through her head.

"If we would have waited, we would have wasted tomorrow getting the supplies. We need to put all of the time we have towards getting a good start on the building." Clarke pointed out, switching her pack to her other shoulder.

"It's not worth it if we are dead."

"Going back will take us longer than continuing to the bunker." Her hand slid along the bark of a tree she was passing. Even though they had been on earth for almost three weeks, simple things like the rough feeling of bark under her fingertips were still a novelty. She didn't think that she would ever really be used to it.

She glanced back at him when he didn't answer right way, only to find that he was staring at her. It still unnerved her, being on good terms with Bellamy. While she trusted him, she wasn't very sure that he trusted her; a very worrying thought, considering they now shared leadership of the camp. Realizing she had been staring back at him like an idiot, she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. "Something you want?"

The smug grin that worked its way across his face hinted to the blush inducing comment he was about to make. "There are lots of _things_ I want. The question is, are will you give them to me?" Nothing about that statement should have been funny, if anything it should have made her put a bit of distance between them, but she let out a burst of laughter. His smirk quickly turned in a scowl, which only made her laugh harder; he had clearly been anticipating a different reaction. "Will you shut up? The Grounders will be on us in seconds with all the noise your making." His growl didn't faze her the way it used to.

"It sounds like someone isn't used to being rejected. Don't worry Bellamy, I'm sure once we get back to camp your harem can mend you're ego. " Her grin got even bigger than it was before as she watched him storm away. "If you're still trying to get to the bunker, you're going the wrong way." The look he gave her should have scared her, probably would have a few days ago, but she knew he wouldn't ever actually hurt her. She continued on, not waiting to see if he was even following.

"You shouldn't spend so much time with Octavia." With all the places that she had thought the conversation could have gone, she had not seen it heading there.

"What?"

"You shouldn't spend so much of your time with Octavia." He said it nice and slow like she wasn't capable of understanding English.

"I heard you the first time." Now she was scowling. _Why did he have to ruin her fun? _"Why shouldn't I? I like spending time with her and, if I'm not mistaken, you said that it was good for her."

"I said that before you started acting like Octavia."

"You might want to spend some more time with your sister if you think we are anything alike. She chases butterflies and laughs about everything. She has-" _A loving boyfriend. _"A brother."

"You can be a brat without chasing butterflies, Clarke."

"A brat?" She snorted; nobody had ever called her a brat before. "I'm going to tell Octavia you called her that."

"Go ahead, it's not like she needs another excuse to be mad at me anyway."

"What did you do now?" His long strides had allowed him to catch up to her, making it all too easy for her to sneak a glance at his face; he shot her an undecipherable look before facing forward again, his jaw clenching slightly.

"Why am I the one who always gets blamed for her being angry?" She wasn't stupid, even though he seemed to think she was half the time; he was clearly trying to avoid answering her question.

"Maybe because you usually are the reason she's angry."

"So the next time Raven's angry I should immediately assume it has something to do with you and Finn?" It was a low blow and they both knew it. She didn't understand why he was suddenly trying to start a fight with her.

Thankfully she didn't have to dignify his lash-out with a response; they were finally at the bunker. Clarke strode forward and kneeled beside a pile of moss, grass, and leaves; carefully she brushed the debris aside to reveal the hatch. She felt more than heard Bellamy come to a stop behind her but she paid him no mind; instead she focused on getting the small door to open. His hand came down on her shoulder, holding her in place when it became apparent that she was planning on entering the bunker first. "Wait, someone or something else could already be down there."

"It's fine, Bellamy." She shrugged his hand off, ignoring how she immediately missed its warmth. "I've been down here a number of times; I'm pretty sure we are the only ones to know it's here." Clarke climbed down the ladder before he could try to stop her again. Her feet touched the ground and she immediately busied herself with finding a candle. From up above she could hear Bellamy methodically swearing at her. "Close the hatch when you get down here." She told him, striking one of the precious few matches the bunker had.

"How did you find this place again?" He asked as he made his way down the ladder.

"Finn found it." Her eyes lingered on the bed, memories of that night plaguing her mind.

"Of course he did." Something in his voice caused her to look at him, but he wasn't looking at her; he too had noticed the bed. Clarke quickly turned back to her task of lighting candles; she couldn't deal with this now. The resounding bang that followed almost made her drop the match and the sound of the metal bar being dragged forcefully into place made her heart beat pick up. She was locked in the bunker with an angry Bellamy Blake.

* * *

"What do you mean they aren't in the camp anymore?" Raven was fuming; she had gone to confront Bellamy about beating up her boyfriend, only to find and empty tent. So she had gone to look for him at the next logical place: Octavia's tent. What a mistake that had been. Bursting into the tent, Raven had seen a lot more of Octavia and Jasper than she had ever intended too.

"They told me they had to go get some supplies and would most likely be gone the whole night." Octavia shrugged, glancing over at Jasper with a small smile; he, on the other hand, still looked highly embarrassed at being walked in on. "That's really all I can tell you. Now we kind of had plans for my brother's sudden absence, so if you wouldn't mind," The rest was left unsaid but Raven understood; she quickly left, shaking her head in disbelief.

Sighing in resignation Raven made her way towards the bonfire; she had almost been looking forward to getting the opportunity to let out some of her anger and frustration. Arms encircled her waist and a pair of warm lips descended onto her neck. A moan of pleasure left her lips as she felt her tense muscles melt. Finn always knew exactly how to make her feel better.

"I was wondering where you disappeared too." She turned in his arms, his kisses traveling down her neck to her collarbone; her hands traveled to curl in his recently cut hair.

"I was just about to say the same thing." He mumbled, nipping lightly at the special spot on her neck. She closed her eyes, enjoying the treatment she was receiving from him; he pulled away too soon, drawing a disappointed noise from her. "I think we should take this somewhere more private." She nodded in agreement without even having to think about it. She might not be able to get rid of her frustration by fighting but she could think of another, more _pleasurable_ way to do it.

* * *

"I don't fucking care if you've been hosting God damn tea parties down here! You can't just jump into a dark hole; use your fucking common sense." Bellamy's voice vibrated off the metal walls surrounding them.

"And what, exactly, was your plan? Stand outside and wait for the Grounder's to attack? Sounds reasonable." She spat back at him, becoming increasingly fed up with his attitude.

"You should have let me go first."

"Drop the chivalrous act, we both know you don't give a damn if I live or die."

"If I didn't give a damn about your survival I wouldn't have come with you on this stupid trip." His anger dropped a couple notches before rising back full force. "I wasn't trying to be chivalrous, Princess. It makes more sense to send the guy who can fight down first."

"You would have gone first and stood in the dark because you have no idea where anything is down here. How is that any safer? You could have been killed before you even knew someone else was down here. At least when I came down first we had light right away."

"Ah yes, how could I forget? The privileged are always able to do more than commoners like me."

"I don't know what the hell your problem is!" Her scream of frustration was accompanied by the sound of his laughter; not the laughter that she had heard by the lake, this laughter was much colder.

"My problem? What about yours, Princess? Or should I say problems? You seem to have quite a few." Something inside her crumbled at his words, he had seen her at her weakest and now he was going to use it against her.

"Don't." The word was meant to be a warning but it came out as more of a plea. She didn't think she would be able to hold herself together if he started this with her; not when he had been the one to put her back together. To her surprise he turned away from her, punching the wall behind him with such force she was afraid he'd broken his hand. Silence stretched between them; the only sound was their ragged breathing.

"You bring out the worst in me, Princess." His voice was ragged and tired. It made her wonder when the last time he had actually slept was.

"I have that effect on people." The almost joke wasn't something she had even planned on saying. She sat down shakily on one of the chairs by the table, trying to gain back a bit of her control.

"It's not your fault. I should be used to it by now." He still hadn't turned to face her and for that she was grateful. They didn't say anything for a long while, each preoccupied with coming to terms with exactly what had just happened between them.

Eventually, Clarke reached out for one of the papers scattered across the table; taking one of the pencils in her hand, she drew comfort from the familiarity of it. "How many buildings are we talking about?" She bit her lip, hoping he couldn't hear the uncertainty in her voice.

"Two. One for the girls and one for the guys." He still didn't look at her, but she chose to press on anyway.

"You get to tell that to all the couples who currently reside in their own tents."

"They'll learn to deal with it." She figured that he would _make_ them deal with it but didn't voice that thought.

"There are 92 of us left." She spoke more to herself than to him. "So the buildings will have to be pretty big." Her hand moved across the across the surface of the paper with deft strokes, sketching the outline of a building.

"I talked with Monty before I talked with the rest of the group." He sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the table. "He seemed to think that if we used bunk beds, we could cut down on spacing issues."

"How many bunk beds would we need for each?" She asked, not slowing in her sketching.

"We have 42 girls right now, so we'd need twenty-one at least. There are 50 guys so we'd need about 25."

"So 46 beds will need to be built, along with the two cabins." She pursed her lips. "That's a lot to get done in less than a week.

"We'll start with the buildings. Beds are a luxury that won't help us stay alive during the winter."

"Where are we going to get enough wood to start the buildings? It could take us days before we've chopped down enough trees."

"You haven't been out with a hunting party since the storm, have you?" He tapped his fingers against the solid surface of the table.

"I've only been out gathering herbs and other medical supplies."

"Then you haven't seen the full extent of the damage that the storm caused. A good portion of the trees down by the butterfly meadows were taken out by the wind. There are enough wood to give the builders a head start while I take out a group to cut down more."

"Sounds good." She would have been impressed with the thought he had put into the plan had she not known him; Bellamy Blake never did anything half-assed. "Have you put any thought into who will be in each group?"

"I figured we could work that out, together."

The smile that spread across her face was completely irrational, but she couldn't help it. "I'd like that." There was an awkward beat of silence before Clarke cleared her throat in embarrassment. "I think we'll need at least three groups: one to cut the trees, one to haul the trees back to camp, and one to do the actual building."

"We'll need to mix the strong with the weak if we want all of the groups to be functional."

"Can you make a list of everyone's names and then we'll divide them based on strengths?" She asked trying to ignore the smug look her embarrassment had put on his face. She saw him reach out and pull one of the many papers on the table closer to him from the corner of her eye; soon the sound of pencils scratching on paper filled the air.

"The thirteen year old girl with the annoying habit of finishing everyone's sentences is named Vivian, right?"

"Celeste." She continued drawing without looking up while correcting him.

"Then who's Vivian?"

"Nobody down here."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I am positive that nobody down here goes by the name of Vivian." Clarke stared down at her drawing trying to decide how best to depict the small slope that would have to be added to the roof. There only needed to be a couple degrees of incline, maybe-

"Is the girl who took a knife to her boyfriend's clothes when he dumped her named Amanda?"

"You sure it's not Vivian?"

"Very funny." His tone was less than impressed. "So was that a yes or a no for Amanda?"

"It's Miranda." She shook her head slightly in disbelief. "And she joined your Harem shortly after her boyfriend dumped her.

"Huh."

"You seriously didn't remember her name?"

"The only name I need to know is the one they'll be screaming at the end of the night."

The glare she sent his way conveyed exactly what she thought of his comment. "Don't be an ass."

"In case it escaped your notice I am an ass."

"Only half of the time."

"Thanks for the glowing compliment, Princess." Clarke let out chuckle at the pout in his voice before turning back to her drawing to add the finishing touches. She was just making the last stroke of the roof when Bellamy spoke again. "Is-"

"Oh for fuck sake, give me the paper." Clarke snatched the paper from him, quickly reading over the 50 names he had managed to put down in the time she had given him. His penmanship was the absolutely terrible messy scrawl that she had come to associate as _boy writing_. "First of all we don't have a- what does this say? - Rick?-in the camp."

"He's the skinny kid with too many freckles."

"Rhys." She made the change before continuing on. "Who is- _tree girl_? Seriously Bellamy?"

"I know he name has something to do with a tree." He defended himself.

"What does she look like?"

"Tall."

_Count to ten. Whatever you do don't strangle him._ "Thanks for the description." She tapped the pencil on the desk a few times, lost in thought. "I think you're thinking about Willow."

"See I knew it was a tree."

"Do you actually live in camp? Because you wouldn't know it based off this list."

"I'd like to see you do better."

Blue eyes held brown for the briefest of moments. "Challenge accepted." She bent her head writing names as fast as they came to her; 42 names later Clarke put her pencil down triumphantly. "92 names."

"I wouldn't know if they were all right or not." Bellamy pointed out, not really interested anymore; a paper in his hand was monopolizing his attention. "This is amazing." He was looking at her sketch for the new buildings.

"Thanks." She felt the heat of a blush spread across her face. "I was thinking that we could build places for fire pits within the cabins." She leaned across the table to point with her finger. "It will keep us warmer during the winter."

"That's a good idea." His voice sounded distracted and she looked at him questioningly; his eyes were focused on a part of her body that was very much not her face. It was then that she realized that leaning across the table in front of Bellamy was probably not the smartest move on her part.

She stood up quickly, reaching blindly for the list of names. "We need to make the groups." In her haste, her searching hand sent the jar of pencils crashing to the floor. "Shit!" She dropped to the floor, picking up the pencils in an attempt to hide her flaming face.

"Relax Princess. We have all night to make the list." He stood from his chair stretching his arms over his head. "But first I think I'm going to get some sleep." She looked up just in time to see him removing his shirt. "Wake me up in couple of hours, unless you want to join me?" He winked at her before heading towards the bed.

"I think I'll pass." Her voice caused him to pause; he looked to the bed and then back at her.

"On second thought I think I'll just sleep on the couch." The disgust in his voice just confirmed that he knew what she and Finn had done in the bunker.

"Bellamy-" She really didn't know what she was going to say.

"Good night Princess." He laid down on the couch, arm behind his head. She didn't respond and by the time she had managed to locate all of the pencils he was fast asleep. Quietly she made her way over to the bed, grabbing the few pillows from it and placing them on the floor by the couch. She wasn't going to sleep on the bed either; it just didn't feel right.

She laid down on the floor, stealing one last glance at the man on the couch. He looked so much younger when he was asleep. "Good night Bellamy." She whispered softly before closing her own eyes, willing sleep to come quickly.

**AN: Alright, I read this one over six times because I didn't want a repeat of last chapters mistakes but if I missed anything feel free to let me know! I actually had a bit of trouble writing this chapter but the end result makes me smile; hopefully you guys all feel the same way. As always comments and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated!**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: I'm sorry to have kept all of you guys waiting for an update yet again! I could give you all my reasons for taking so long but I figured you've waited long enough; all I'm going to say is enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or settings pertaining to this universe; I am just playing with them. **

Clarke woke with a start. Sitting up slowly, she studied her surroundings; four grey wall covered in drawings. Her drawings. _NO!_ She was still in her cell aboard the Arc. She had never been sent to Earth, which meant all those kids who had died were still alive; Wells was still alive! It had all felt so real; the sun, the fresh air, the heart-break. She felt tears slip from her eyes; she should feel happy that she wasn't responsible for anyone's death, but she wanted it to be real.

"Prisoner 319, face the wall." The deep voice of one of the guards startled her into action. Standing quickly, she moved to the wall farthest from the door trying to come to grips with reality. The heavy door swung open with a crash against the wall, causing her to jump. Heavy booted footsteps made their way towards her and she forced her body to stay still. Rough hands grabbed her wrists, forcing them together behind her back to be cuffed.

"What's going on? It's not my birthday yet! I still have-" _How many days did she have?_

"Sounds like someone's lost track of time in confinement." The amusement in his voice made her skin crawl. "Happy 18th Birthday." His breath was hot on her neck and she started to panic; what was he going to do to her?

"We don't have time for this. The council is expecting her for her hearing." A different male voice spoke up; he sounded younger than the first guard.

"What do they care if she's a little late?" His hand traveled roughly down her side to take her hip in a bruising grip.

"You've read her file. You know she's the daughter of one of the councilwomen." The younger voice sounded almost bored; something in Clarke's brain stuttered awake: she knew that voice.

"You should learn to respect your superior's kid." But his hand left her hip; he violently pushed her out the door. She tried to catch a glimpse of the other guards face but he had already turned away from her, his dark, slicked back hair was all she could see.

"Yes, sir." He walked in front of them, his shoulders tense with what she assumed to be anger. Her ragged breathing was the only sound as the made their way through the empty corridors. _Where was everyone? _Something wasn't right; panic swelled through her body, making her feel like her heart would burst out of her chest.

"I thought you were taking me to the council room?" Her panicked voice sounded even more shrill as she was pulled past the door to the room where her hearing should have been held.

"Shut up!" She was roughly jerked forward, the motion causing her to bite her tongue and taste blood. She continued to struggle which only made the guard laugh; not even phased a little bit by her attempts to escape. She was hauled into another hallway; one that she remembered all too well. One that was still featured in many of her nightmare: The airlocks.

"No! I'm supposed to get a hearing. You can't do this!" She dug her heels in, doubling her efforts to slow the progression. "Please! I didn't get to say good bye to my mom!" Her screams bounced off the metal wall, but both of the guards ignored her; it was almost like they couldn't hear her. The air lock opened before her and she made one last attempt at escaping. She slammed her foot down on the instep of the guard's foot, throwing her weight to the side when his grip loosened in surprise. She made it two steps before he caught hold of her hair, yanking her back in the most painful way possible.

"Stupid Bitch." The guard growled, back handing her across the face before shoving her into the airlock. She twisted, landing with a bang on her hip; sharp pain running through the majority of her body. She spat blood, tears traitorously falling down her cheeks.

The younger guard stepped through the hatch, his face still hidden by shadow. She flinched away from him. "Please. Don't."

"I tried to stop them, Princess." She looked back up at him in surprise; he was no longer in uniform but in clothes that were affiliated with the janitors of the Arc.

"Bellamy?" Her hands were still behind her back making it a struggle for her to sit up but she still managed it. "What are you doing? Get out of here!" He kneeled down beside her, a hand coming up to cup her face gently; she leaned into his touch as he brushed her tears away.

"You still don't get it." The intensity of his gaze caused a sob to break through her lips; they were both going to die. "We're in this together, Clarke." Before she could even process the meaning of his words, the airlock opened; together they were ripped from the Arc and thrown into the airless expanse of stars. The air left her body, she couldn't breathe. Too much pressure to handle clamped down on her lungs as she slowly suffocated. She continued to gasp until black spots danced around her vision. The last thing she saw before everything went black was the life leave Bellamy's eyes.

* * *

With a gasp Clarke woke; her heart hammering in her chest. Her hands continued to shake as she pulled in gulps of air, trying to calm the anxiety she was now feeling. _It had just been a dream. Just a dream. She wasn't dead. _She sat up, taking in her surroundings. The walls were still grey, but they weren't covered in her drawings; she wasn't on the Arc, she was in the bunker. Sighing in relief, she spotted Bellamy, still sound asleep on the floor by the couch. They were both fine, catching some much needed sleep before heading back to the camp.

She watched Bellamy, watched the rise and fall of his chest until her own breathing had settled as well. He looked so peaceful which made a smile cross her face: He deserved a moment of peace. She lay back down on the couch, still too worked up to sleep; she intended to wait for Bellamy to wake up before moving. _Wait a minute._ She sat up again quickly, staring at the man on the floor; she had been the one to fall asleep on the floor, not Bellamy. She realized that only one thing could explain what had happened: Bellamy had moved her while she was sleeping. He had picked her up, had moved her with his powerful arms, all without waking her up and she wasn't really sure what to think about that.

It was the kind of thing that her dad had done when she was younger. She used to fall asleep on the couch in the living room while reading books and every time her father was there, ready to carry her to bed. It had become a sort of routine between them; a routine that had been ripped away from them when he had been floated. It was one of the many things that she missed about her father. Tears stung her eyes and she swiped them away impatiently, she shouldn't be letting such a small thing affect her.

Determined to put the entire situation behind her, Clarke slid off the couch, being extra careful not to step on anything that belonged to Bellamy; she didn't want to wake him up yet. She made her way to the table, deciding that if she couldn't sleep she could at least start putting together the groups. She started with the people she knew well and could trust to head a group; Monty and Raven would head the building group, Bellamy would be in charge of the group cutting down the trees, and Miller would take control of the group hauling the building materials back to camp. She added Jasper's name under Miller's group. Slowly but methodically she continued her way down the list, making changes as needed. There was something soothing about the repetition of the work, allowing her to put all of her worries on the back burner for just a bit.

When she was finally done with making the groups her back was sore from being hunched over for so long. Slowly Clarke stretched her back before turning to do a final once over of her work. She had deliberately left Finn and Monroe out of the groups; both were too injured to be of any real use to any of the groups. She had put herself in Miller's group, mostly because she didn't have the strength to be in Bellamy's group or the knowledge to help the builders.

A strangled noise from behind her caused her to jump in surprise. Turning to look at Bellamy, she noticed that his once peaceful face now held a frown. She watched him a bit longer, uncertain if she should wake him or not. Clarke was just about turn back around when he let out another shout: Bellamy Blake was having a nightmare. She was up and moving towards him before she had really made the decision to do so. She paused for just a second, her hand stretched half way between them, before touching his arm softly.

His reaction was one that she hadn't expected; his eyes shot open as his hand grabbed her wrist dragging her roughly to the floor. It all happened so fast that she hadn't even had time to attempt to resist his strength. The next thing she knew, she was on her back with Bellamy hovering over top of her, his muscled forearm pressing down on her throat with crushing force. She clawed desperately at his arm, trying to breathe but his eyes were unseeing; he still thought he was being attacked.

"Bell-my!" She only managed to get the first and last syllables of his name out but that seemed to be enough to snap him out of it. The pressure from his arm immediately disappeared and she gasped as she was allowed to breathe again.

"Clarke?" Bellamy's confused gaze settled down on her, but he made no move to get off of her. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What the hell am I doing?" She asked in disbelief as soon as she caught her breath. "You're the one who attacked me!"

"I attacked you?" A look of horror crossed his face when the implication of his words finally sunk in. His eyes trained down to her throat. "I hurt you."

Something about the way he said it made her want to comfort him. "Yes, but it wasn't your fault." She spoke a bit louder when it looked like he was about to interrupt. "It wasn't your fault! You were having a nightmare and I tried to wake you up. You were freaked out and you reacted." He didn't seem to be listening to a word she said; his eyes were still focused on her neck. Slowly, as if he was trying not to scare her, he brought his hand up to her throat; Bellamy's calloused fingers trailed softly along her collarbone and then up her pulse point.

She had never thought that she would use the words soft and Bellamy in the same sentence; he was all hard edges and angles which didn't allow much room for softness. But there was no other way to describe his touch. Her heart rate picked up substantially and she knew that he would be able to feel it underneath his fingertips. To her surprise, the arrogant smirk she expected to receive never came; he continued to look at her with such an absolute tenderness that it scared her.

"Bellamy?" Her voice came out more breathless than she had intended it too, but it seemed to have more effect in getting Bellamy's attention. Faster than she could blink, he had moved so his hand and body were no longer touching her; now that she was no longer pinned down under his weight, she slowly sat up.

"You have bruises on your neck." His voice was hard as he stood up, pulling his shirt over his head. "Bruises that I put there. Don't tell me it wasn't my fault." Her hand flew to her neck in reaction to the information he was giving her.

"You were having a _nightmare_! I should have known better than to try and wake you." She snapped back at him. "So what if I have bruises? They will fade."

"Don't be that girl, Clarke." He turned away from her, his fist clenching. "Don't be the girl who makes excuses for guys like me. Don't make excuses for the ones who hurt you."

"I'm not making excuses. For you or for anyone else." She sighed, standing up. "Look, you want forgiveness? Fine I'll give it to you. You're forgiven."

"I don't deserve your forgiveness." His voice shook slightly with emotion. "My mother, she raised me to be better. To be good. But I'm not, I'm not good. I'm a monster."

"You aren't a monster, Bellamy!" She grabbed his arm, forcefully turning him to look at her. "Monsters don't care about other people; but you do, you care." Her hand tightened as she struggled to get her message across. "You protect Octavia with your life. Most of us are still alive and a large part of that is because of you. I trust you; I would never trust a monster." She didn't know how long they stood there, her clinging to him like an anchor, but eventually the tension in the air became too much for her to handle. "Now if you're done with your early morning meltdown, I think we have groups to finalize before we head back to camp."

"Everyone's entitled to an early morning meltdown, Clarke."

"Remember that when I'm waking you up a three in the morning for mine." She let go of his arm and brushed past him.

"If you're waking me up at three in the morning, it better be for something pretty damn good." The implications of his words were not lost on Clarke, but she chose to ignore them; she was just glad that he was joking again.

"I already put some of the people into groups. We just need to figure out if they will work or not." She handed him the paper; he scanned the list an amused expression on his face.

"Some people? You've finished the lists, Princess." He looked back over the list again. "One problem. You and Octavia aren't going to be in a group."

"And why is that?"

"We are going to be working with sharp tools and a majority of the camp can't seem to walk across a flat surface without injuring themselves."

"That's a happy thought."

"Then you see what I'm trying to say. We'll need a doctor on call at all times. You and Octavia are all we have."

"Alright, I see your point." Clarke grudgingly admitted defeat.

"So you admit I'm right? Hopefully you'll make it a habit."

"I would, but that would mean you would have to make a habit of being right."

"Very funny." He looked back down at the paper. "Otherwise I think that these groups will work. When did you put them together?"

"Just before I-um-woke you up." She watched his hand clench the paper a bit tighter.

"And what were you doing up?" His voice was carefully neutral; obviously he still wasn't completely over what had happened.

"Nightmare. Nothing new." Except it was; Bellamy had never been in one of her nightmares before.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Do you want to talk about yours?" Clarke knew that with the silence she received from him meant that she had gotten her point across; she reached out to pull her drawing closer to the two of them. "I think this will work for the girl's cabin since there are less of us, but I think I might have to make another one to for the boys. It will need to be longer-"

"I see my sister dead." His words caught her by surprise, her blue eyes settling on his troubled face. She kept quiet, waiting for him to continue. "It's always my sister dead. I've been having these dreams since Octavia was little. At first they were always about someone on the Arc finding out about her and turning us in; I was so scared that she was going to be taken away from me." He was keeping his voice measured, deliberately keeping his emotions in check. "When she was actually taken away from me, they changed and I had to watch her be floated, just for being born. Because I wasn't good enough."

Clarke opened her mouth ready to interject, but Bellamy didn't seem to take any notice; he just continued on with his explanation. "And now we are on Earth and there are too many things that I don't know about and too many things that can fucking kill us. I can't keep Octavia safe. I can't keep anybody safe."

"Bellamy-" She had been ready to offer him words of comfort but the look on his face stopped her; he didn't want comfort. She licked her lips nervously before restarting. "I see my dad being floated. My mom dying with the rest of the Arc because I couldn't do anything to stop it." She was aware of his eyes on her. "I dream about still being up in the Arc and getting floated. I see people I care about being killed." _You being killed. _She didn't voice her last thought, as she was still unsure where her feelings were coming from.

"We're pretty sad leaders, Clarke." The dark humor of his statement made her smile slightly.

"We didn't ask to be leaders." She reminded him softly, touching his hand that was still holding the list. "And nobody's overthrown us yet. We must be doing something right."

"Or everyone else is just too messed up to notice."

"You don't really believe that."

"How would you know that?" A question that once would have held hostility and defense now only held curiosity; Clarke considered that a significant improvement to their relationship.

"Right now, you're the only person that I feel like I _actually_ know anything about."

"Don't tell me your going soft on me, Princess?" The amusement on his face caused her to frown at him good naturedly.

"Don't get used to it." She checked her watch, noting that they would need to leave if they wanted to use as much daylight as possible. "We should get going." She grabbed her sketch as Bellamy nodded in agreement.

"I didn't plan on it." She made her way up the ladder, unlocking the exit and continuing through. Bellamy followed closely behind her. "And Clarke, thank you."

That thank you was weighted with a lot of things left unsaid; things that both of them weren't comfortable voicing out loud yet. Together, they closed the hatch and concealed it again; maybe when things were less crazy they would take some time to figure out what just what that thank you meant.

**AN: So there you have it. I hope it lived up to all of your expectations. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to review, you have no idea how happy I am to get feedback from the people who are reading my story. I love hearing all of your ideas, and I hope I satisfied some of you by leaving Bellamy and Clarke in the bunker for another chapter! I hope my spelling and grammar is up to par but if anything too bad stands out feel free to let me know. As always comments and constructive criticism are welcome. **


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Hello all of my lovely readers! The response to my last chapter was overwhelming and I can't thank you all enough for taking the time to read and/or review this story! It means a lot to me to know that you guys are enjoying what my crazy mind puts out there. Also to the Guest who wanted me to send you an email, I'm not ignoring you I just have no way to get in touch! Hopefully you all enjoy what I have in store for you this chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or settings pertaining to this universe; I am just playing with them. **

"Clarke get ready, we have another one!" Octavia's shout reached Clarke who was standing in the drop ship, mixing more of the seaweed paste they had been using on injuries all morning.

"How bad?"

"The worst yet." Octavia held the drop ship door open to allow the injured boy to be brought in. He was unconscious; his pant leg was ripped and soaked with blood.

"What happened?" Clarke didn't bother cleaning the seaweed paste from her hands; they would be needing it soon anyway.

"His axe slipped. Bellamy told us to bring him to you; he wants us to report back on his condition as soon as possible." The boy who was speaking was one of Bellamy's followers; the ones who still seemed to think of Bellamy as a God. The two boys positioned the injured one on the emergency table. Clarke stepped forward, determining what her next step would have to be.

"I can't see tell how deep anything is; the fabric is in the way." She sighed in frustration, reaching for her knife. With a smooth slice, she had cut the fabric of his pants from ankle to hip; slowly she peeled back both edges from the wound. "Damn it!" She swore; a bit of white could be seen through the mass of red. "It's all the way to the bone. He's going to need stitches. Octavia can you sterilize the needle and grab the wire?" She didn't have to look up to know that Octavia was doing what she asked. While waiting for the needle, Clarke grabbed some dried seaweed to try a halt the steady flow of blood. She was extremely thankful that she had gone out with Bellamy to get more the day before.

"Here." Octavia handed her the needle, already threaded and ready for use.

"Thanks." She pulled the seaweed away, steeling herself for the process she was about to embark. "I'm going to need you to hold him down. This is going to be pretty painful." She had been talking to the two boys, so she was surprised when Octavia swung her legs so that she was straddling the unconscious boy's chest. "I didn't mean you Octavia!"

"Oh." She looked back at Clarke a sheepish look on her face. "Well seeing as I'm already holding him down, why don't we just go with it?" Shaking her head in amusement Clarke carefully inserted the needle, starting her stitches.

"It looks like I won't be needing your help. You should get back to work; tell Bellamy to come by after he's done for the day and I'll give him a rundown of everyone's conditions." She looked up when they didn't immediately answer; she was not surprised in the slightest to see them staring at Octavia in undisguised awe. She cleared her throat, startling them enough to look at her. "You might want to leave now before I decide to tell Bellamy that you were ogling his little sister." Both of the boys were gone faster than she would have expected.

"That wasn't very nice." Clarke just shrugged, already loosing herself in the meticulous work of sewing a person back together again. Silence filled the drop ship, aside from the few strangled moans of pain that the boy let out; thankfully he didn't wake up, making it easier for Clarke to work quickly. Finally she sat back to inspect her work; fifteen tiny stitches adorned the front of his leg.

"Ok Octavia, we're good." She grabbed a cloth and wet it before beginning to clean up the excess blood. "You should probably get off of him before he wakes up and has a heart attack." She smiled warmly at the other girl, who just rolled her eyes.

"Or he'll think he died and is in Heaven." Raven entered the drop ship, a huge grin on her face.

"Can both of you shut up." Octavia scrambled off the boys chest, clearly a bit embarrassed by their teasing. "I was just holding him down!"

"Oh so you were "just holding" Jasper down when I walked into your tent last night?" Raven couldn't resist the jibe.

"Weren't you ever taught that it's rude to barge into someone's home unannounced?" Octavia shot back.

"I must have missed that lesson." She winked at Clarke, who was now spreading seaweed paste over the wound. "I'll never be able to un-see what I saw."

"If you hadn't been so concerned with finding Bellamy you wouldn't have walked in on anything."

"Why were you trying to find Bellamy?" Clarke asked, using dried seaweed as bandages to wrap up the wound.

"I wanted to have a little _talk_ with him." The anger in her voice made both of the other girls look at her. "I didn't appreciate what he did to Finn's face." Clarke immediately avoided eye contact; she was just getting on good terms with Raven, and this conversation was definitely not going to help things.

"That's why you were so intent on finding him?" Octavia snorted. "In my brother's defense, Finn threw the first punch."

"You were there?" Raven immediately grasped onto the new information. "Do you know what they were fighting about?" Octavia shifted uncomfortably, clearly wishing she had kept her mouth shut. Clarke deliberated if she should try to leave or not, but figured that it would be too much of a giveaway.

"'Finn didn't -umm- tell you?" Octavia hedged.

"He just said that they had a disagreement."

"Oh well, I'm not really that sure what _exactly_ they were fighting about; but-"

"Octavia. Do you or do you not know?"

"I-" Octavia turned to look at Clarke, who was checking the unconscious boy's vitals; she pretended not to see the look of panic the younger girl shot at her. "Clarke, what's on your neck?" _Shit._

"It's nothing Octavia." She rearranged her jacket, pulling the zipper up higher. She had deliberately kept her jacket on and zipped so that nobody could see the bruises; just because she didn't blame Bellamy for the marks didn't mean that the others, mainly Finn, would see it that way.

"That didn't look like nothing." Octavia moved faster than Clarke anticipated, pulling the zipper back down. "Oh my God!" She gasped in shock, her hand coming up as if to touch her.

"Don't!" Clarke pulled back, glaring at the younger girl.

"Who did that to you?" Raven asked, coming to stand beside Octavia.

"Nobody did anything."

"Clarke you're a terrible liar. If you don't tell me who did this I'm going to go get Bellamy." Octavia threatened.

"Octavia think about it. She didn't have bruises when she left with your brother yesterday and now she does."

"Bellamy would never hurt Clarke." However, she didn't look completely convinced that what she was saying was true.

"Both of you just need to drop it."

"Tell us what happened and we will." Both girls stared at her expectantly.

"Fine! I went to wake Bellamy up this morning, and he thought he was being attacked. Things kind of escalated from there." She zipped up her jacket briskly, turning back to her patient. "He didn't mean to do it and that's all that matters."

"You had sex with Bellamy and walked away with bruises? Damn girl, I never figured you'd be into rough sex." Raven laughed, sounding slightly impressed.

"Eww. That's my brother you're talking about."

"I _didn't _have sex with Bellamy!" Clarke's voice was high-pitched, even to her own ears. "Why the hell does everyone keep assuming that just because we are finally getting along, that it means we're sleeping together?"

"Who's everyone?" Raven's tone was casual but Clarke still felt her body tense; they had somehow managed to make their way back to Bellamy and Finn's disagreement.

"Raven was there a reason you came here? Nobody's hurt in the building crew?" Clarke interjected, trying to defuse the situation before any real damage could be done.

"No, nobody's hurt." Raven eyed her suspiciously. "I'm actually supposed to tell you that your sketches are perfect and that we've found a method for creating the structure. One of the girls was majorly into architect on the Arc. Apparently there was a technique that settler's way back in the 1800's used to build their houses called "Swedish Construction". We just make notches in the logs and stack them up."

"And it holds?" Clarke was fascinated by their discovery, but more relieved that she had successfully distracted Raven again.

"As far as we can tell it will. We should have the base laid by the end of the day."

"We might actually pull this off!" Octavia's excited grin was infectious, causing the other girls to smile as well. Their excitement, however, was abruptly cut short when another bleeding patient entered the drop ship.

"What happened to you?" Clarke turned towards the girl who was cradling her hand against her chest.

"I was standing too close to Jason while he was cutting a notch out of one of the logs. The axe-it caught my hand on th-the back swing." Her voice was shaking, indicating that the she might be going into shock.

"Hey it's ok. We're going to get you fixed up." Octavia steered the girl towards one of the other beds while Clarke sterilized her hands.

"I think that's my cue to get back to work." Raven turned to leave the drop ship.

"Finn is going to need more seaweed tea for his nose." Clarke called after her. "Can you come by and pick it up later?"

"Sure thing."

"Can you tell me your name?" Octavia's soothing voice brought Clarke's attention back to the task at hand. She quickly grabbed one of the extra blankets and wrapped it around the girl before inspecting her hand. The cut was deep, but she figured that they would be able to forgo stitches.

"My name's Willow." Clarke retrieved the seaweed paste, trying not to smile; _what were the odds_?

"Willow, like the tree." Octavia was trying to put the girl at ease, but Clarke had to bite her lip to stop from laughing: fucking Bellamy and his horrible memory when it came to names.

She tuned out the rest of the conversation, trying to collect her thoughts. Just two days ago, she had been involved in a screaming match with Bellamy in front of the entire camp; she had been furious and couldn't even stand to look at him. Now here she was, trying not to laugh at some stupid remark he had made. _What the hell? _

"Alright, Willow." Clarke spoke, choosing to push her thoughts away. "You'll need to keep this wrapped up for the rest of the day. Come by tomorrow morning and I'll check it over again. You're going to be fine." She noticed that Willow was still shaking slightly. She wished that they had something to give her for the shock. She was on the lookout for a broad-leafed plant called Kava Kava; the roots could be used in tea to calm and sooth.

"Thanks." Willow went to stand, but Clarke immediately stopped her.

"I want to keep you under observation for a bit. Stay here with Octavia please." Octavia was the best option Clarke had for calming the poor girl down. There was something about the younger girl that allowed her to draw others to her; she was quite the people person for someone who had spent the majority of her life in hiding. A groan from across the room alerted Clarke to the fact that the boy was waking up. "That's my cue to get back to work." She turned back to the boy, trying not to let her weariness show. She really hoped that Willow would be the last injured person to enter the drop ship today.

* * *

Clarke stood alone in front of the drop ship; the sun was just setting when the last of the workers made their way into the wall for the night. So far, progress on the building had been tremendous; the building team had surpassed Raven's initial report, laying down not only the base but the beginning of walls. If things continued the way they had today, both structures could be almost done by the time the Arc came down.

"How many were hurt today?" Bellamy's spoke from behind her, causing her to jump slightly. She turned to face him, taking in his disheveled appearance; he was covered in dirt and sweat from a hard day's work, his shirt had a slight tear in it and yet she felt a slight flutter in her chest. She couldn't help but be a little bit pleased with the fact that he had obviously sought her out the moment he had gotten back.

"Too many." Tiredness that she had been holding back broke forward, causing her shoulders to sag. "Carter was the first one to get hurt; he has a concussion but he should be fine to work by tomorrow. Reagan managed to catch her fingers under a falling log. I can't tell for sure but I think one or two might be broken. I wrapped them up so she should be fine as long as she doesn't use her hand. Adalyn ended up coming in with signs of dehydration. Micah, the boy that came in from your group, is out for the next couple days. He hasn't been able to put any weight on his leg; I've ordered bed rest for now." She swiped a hand over her face.

"Four injured in one day?" This displeasure was evident in his tone; Clarke looked up at him, her own displeasure making an appearance.

"More than four. Willow came in with a cut to her hand and went into shock. I don't know what I would do without your sister. She was the only thing that kept Willow alright." Bitterness ran into her voice. "I'm terrible at keeping people calm."

"You keep 92 criminals calm everyday Clarke."

"_You _keep them calm." She shuddered as images of Murphy hanging from a tree flashed before her; she was the reason Charlotte was dead. "I started a full-scale riot."

"Have you eaten anything today?" His change of topic caused her to blink at him in surprise.

"I think I did." She furrowed her eyebrows, tying to remember; she came up blank. Bellamy didn't say anything; he just turned and walked away from her. "Where the hell are you going?" He left her line of sight and she scowled, heading back into the drop ship; she needed to clean up the mess that the day had left behind. She was just about to take the pile of used and bloody seaweed bandages to the fire to burn when Bellamy returned.

"Here." He threw one of the ration pouches at her; she caught it in surprise. "Eat this."

"Since when do you get me food?" She asked him suspiciously, but never the less began to eat.

"Since when do you not eat?"

"I was busy. I honestly didn't have time to even remember to eat."

"Well remember next time." His voice was curt and she found herself frowning again.

"Is that an order, mighty leader?"

"More like a suggestion." He placed a hand on her shoulder softly before reaching for the pile of seaweed to be burned. "Go get some rest when you're done. We can't have our only doctor running herself down because she is too stupid to take care of herself."

"Fuck you!" She spat at his back as he left the drop ship.

"You wish." He laughed before disappearing again. He was such an insufferable asshole. In bad temper, Clarke finished her food before straightening up the rest of her supplies; she took as long as she possibly could just to spite him. When she could no longer find anything to straighten, she reluctantly left the medical bay. She felt eyes on her as soon as she stepped out of the door but steeled her resolve and didn't look around; she would _not _give him the satisfaction.

Careful to maintain some semblance of dignity, Clarke walked with her head held high in the direction of Octavia's tent. She was extremely tired, but she wasn't about to go to her own tent; not with Bellamy watching. She had made it all the way past the first row of tents when a hand grabbed her and pulled her to the side.

"I'm sleeping in Octavia's tent tonight Bellamy, calm-" Her words stuttered to a halt when she noticed that it wasn't Bellamy who was holding onto her; it was Finn.

"Why does Bellamy care where you sleep?" The accusation in his voice didn't sit well with her.

"I don't think that concerns you, Finn." She pulled her arm from his grip, studying his face. "Why are you skulking in the dark?"

"I'm not skulking." He crossed his arms, but the expression on his face softened a bit. "I needed to talk to you."

"If this is about what happened earlier today, you can save your breath. I don't want to hear it." She turned to leave.

"It's about the grounders." It was funny how that one sentence could put so much fear into a person.

"What?" She whirled back to face him, catching the sheepish expression on his face.

"I've talked to the grounders-"

"Are you insane? They've been trying to kill us since the day we got here!" Her words rushed over his.

"We don't know that."

"How many people have died because of them already, Finn?"

"We've killed more of our own people than they have." He might as well have slapped her, his words hit her hard.

"You don't know what you're talking about." She growled at him, contemplating the benefits of hitting him.

"Neither do you. I've set up a meeting with the grounders. They want to talk to our leader, tonight."

"Why are you talking to me then? Bellamy runs the camp."

"They specifically asked for you, Clarke. Please, this is our only chance of peace." He looked like he was going to touch her, but seemed to think better of it upon seeing the look on her face.

"I'll go get my stuff. Meet me by the gate in ten minutes." She turned to leave. "You better be right about this."

"I am. You just have to trust me."

"I did once. It didn't work out too well for me." She didn't look back once, not even when he called her name.

**AN: And there we have it. I was originally going to leave the grounders out of this story, but they still managed to work their way in there. I'm going to take this time to clear up a couple of things that you might be wondering about. Octavia was taken by the grounders and rescued by Bellamy and the search party before the beginning of this story. Finn was stabbed; however Bellamy didn't bring the grounder back. There was no torture, meaning Lincoln and Octavia haven't talked. This is why she is with Jasper and not him. If you have any other questions feel free to ask! Hopefully my spelling and grammar is alright this time around! As always, comments and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated!**

**AN 2: Whoops my bad, just when you thought I was going to shut up I'm back with more. I just wanted to say sorry about the lack of Bellamy and Clarke interaction! I figured that if I was going to make this story realistic, which I'm trying to do, they wouldn't suddenly be spending every minute of their day together. Work needs to be done before they can have any fun ;) Alright now I'm done! See you next time! (Hopefully that will be sooner than this update was!)**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: I honestly think I have started every single one of these author's notes with an apology for taking so long to update; you think by now I'd have learned my lesson and actually put out a quick update… SORRY! I started writing this almost a week ago, but school work kept me from finishing! Each and every one of you are absolutely amazing for putting up with my unpredictable updating schedule; the fact that I still have people reading and reviewing amazes me. As a token of my thanks, I tried to make this chapter extra-long (well compared to my other chapters) and I hope that you all enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or settings pertaining to this universe; I am just playing with them. **

In retrospect, it probably would have been a good idea to give herself more than 10 minutes before she had to meet up with Finn; but how was she to know that Bellamy would mysteriously vanish when she needed to find him most? She had expected him to still be by the fire, entertaining his mass of devoted followers or, at the very least, wooing one of his girls. The fact that he wasn't doing either of these things worried her slightly; which in turn bothered her. _Since when had she started worry about him? _Not knowing how to answer that particular question, Clarke chose to do what she had been doing with all of her confused feeling: shove them down and hope they went away.

Suddenly hyper aware of her self-given time limit, Clarke picked up her pace as she made her way to Bellamy's tent. It was the last place she could think to look for him; if he wasn't there then she would have to meet Finn and the grounders by herself. Scowling at the thought, she stepped into his tent without announcing her presence; yet another blunder to add to her wonderful night.

She stood in shock; the scene in front of her shouldn't have surprised her, but it still did. Even though she had heard about Bellamy's _escapades_, seeing it unfold before her was a completely different matter. Bellamy stood in the center of his tent, shirtless; he had been looking down at the naked brunette sprawled on his bed, but now his eyes were trained solely on her. His expression was unreadable.

"Don't you knock?" The brunette snarled at her, making no move to cover up. Clarke wasn't sure what was making her angrier: the way the girl was talking to her or the fact that Bellamy had still not said anything. When she didn't answer right away, the girl smiled smugly. "Bellamy's busy right now sweetheart. Maybe you should come back later."

"Get out." The words took all three of them by surprise; Clarke hadn't even made to conscious decision to speak.

"Excuse me?" The girl sat up angrily.

"Get up, get dressed and Get. Out." The darkness that had worked its way into her voice was foreign to her; it was oddly empowering.

"Who the fuck do you think you are? You can't just walk in here and order me to leave." She turned to Bellamy, obviously seeking his support in the matter. Clarke's gaze swung to him as well, daring him to contradict the order she had just given. His eyes, which were trained solely on her, seemed to darken. "Are you going to just sit there and let her talk to me like that?"

"You have exactly five seconds to get your shit and get out." Clarke took a twisted satisfaction to the way the girl finally seemed to realize she meant business. She stood quickly, slipping on her shirt and underwear before making a beeline for the entrance.

"You just messed with the wrong person, you bitch!"

"Try threatening me when you aren't doing a walk of shame, _sweetheart._" She smiled sweetly at the enraged brunette. "You're on latrine duty for the rest of the week. Don't let me catch you in this tent again." The girl pushed past her angrily; the tent flap fell back into place, leaving a tense silence to linger within the tent.

"What the _hell_ was that?" Bellamy was the first one to break the silence; his voice was deep and gravelly, causing Clarke to shiver slightly.

"What the hell was what?" She shot back evenly, anger still simmering below the surface.

"You. The way you ordered Jayden to leave." He stepped closer, his body looming over her. "The way you feel you can just barge in here whenever you want."

"I need to talk to you." She tilted her head up in order to maintain eye contact with him. "I'm sorry if my assumption that you could keep it in your pants for one night made things awkward for you."

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you were jealous, _Princess."_ The way he used her nickname sent a wave of- she wasn't sure what, through her body.

"Jealous?" The laugh that followed was anything but amused; her eyes glinted dangerously. "I can think of several reasons _not _to be jealous of what just happened." She took a deep breath, trying to stabilize her rapidly increasing emotions. "Look this isn't accomplishing anything. What I need to talk about is more important."

"Then talk." He didn't back off though; if anything he came closer, invading her personal space until she found it hard to breathe.

Her heart beating faster in her chest, as panic set it; she couldn't deal with these feelings right now not when- "Finn set up a meeting with the grounders." The last part of her thought was said out loud and she winced at the lack of tact; she hadn't meant to just blurt it out.

"He set up a meeting with the grounders?" The absolute disbelief on his face quickly gave way to anger. "What the fuck was he thinking? I'm going to kill him!" Bellamy backed away from her, forgetting that moments ago he had been trying to make her as uncomfortable as possible.

"I'm supposed to meet him at the gate in," She checked her watch and frowned. "Right now, actually."

"You're going to meet with them? Have you lost your damn mind?" His anger swung widely before coming to a rest on her. "Do you think that they will listen to anything you have to say? They have been killing us since we got down here. I wasn't aware that a spear to the neck was the universal sign for _let's be friends._"

"Do I look like I'm stupid?" She shook her head when he opened his mouth. "On second thought don't answer that. I know that meeting the grounders is incredibly dangerous. I know that it probably is going to be a trap. But it's the only chance we are going to get. Winter is coming, Bellamy."

"You sound like you've already decided to go. Why did you need to talk to me?"

"They want to talk to our leader. The last time I checked you just as much in charge as I am." She crossed her arms protectively in front of her chest, dropping her eyes to the ground. "Besides, I don't trust Finn to have my back." The fact that she trusted Bellamy to have her back was left unsaid.

"You know, you're a real pain in the ass." He sighed, grabbing his discarded shirt from the floor and shrugging it on before heading to the make shift table where he kept his belongings.

"Hey! This one isn't my fault."

Bellamy turned to her and had Clarke not just watched him stash three particularly sharp looking knives within jacket, he would have appeared unarmed. "Surprisingly." He eyed her carefully, appraisingly and then handed her a knife of her own. "Just in case."

She took it gingerly, sliding it into her belt. "We need to go."

"You're the one holding us up." He pointed out, making her aware that she was still standing in front of the tent exit.

"Right." She stepped aside and let him leave first; they walked in uneasy silence towards the gate.

"How pissed is your boyfriend going to be when he finds out you ran to get me?" Clarke narrowed her eyes at the smirk on his face.

"One: he is not my boyfriend. Two: I don't care if he's pissed." She sped up slightly, ignoring the fact that his long legs easily kept pace with her. "And for the record, I didn't run to get you. It was more of a brisk walk."

"Funny." A touch of a real smile showed through and Clarke couldn't stop the small smile she gave him in return.

"Clarke, thank God. I thought you weren't going to show. We have to move fast if we want to make it before sun-up." Finn's relieved expression changed the moment her saw Bellamy was with her.

"I don't have all night, Spacewalker."

"I told you I'd be here." She answered at the same time Bellamy chose to speak. Finn looked confusedly between the two of them, not sure who he should address.

"I thought you were going to get your stuff?" Finn finally spoke; accusation was clearly woven into every word he spoke.

"I did." She felt, rather than saw, both men look at her in surprise; she felt her own eyes widen in shock as well. She hadn't meant to basically lay claim to Bellamy, hell she didn't even want to claim him, but as of right now she was done caring what Finn thought. "We need to move now. Hurry up." She hefted her pack over her shoulder and marched away; she completely missed the smug look on Bellamy's face.

* * *

"I swear to God, if you two don't stop right now I'm going to let the Grounders have you!" Clarke all but snarled at the quarreling boys behind her. They had been walking for roughly half an hour, and what an ordeal that had been. Their trek had started off awkward, silence had swelled between them until the sounds of twigs snapping underfoot had become too much for them to handle. It had been at this point in time that insults had begun to be traded; Clarke had unintentionally found herself caught in the middle of some stupid male dominance dispute. To say her patience was wearing thin would be an understatement.

"You don't mean that." Finn barely spared her a look before turning to glare at Bellamy.

"You don't know what I mean." She was determined not to join in the argument, but her ever present anger made an appearance yet again. Finn almost looked hurt, which prompted Bellamy to the grin even wider.

"Come on Clarke. You know you wouldn't give me up to the grounders." A wicked glint flashed into his dark eyes. "Not when you've seem to come to the conclusion that I am one of your possessions."

"You are not my anything, Bellamy. I don't possess you."

"Hey, I have nothing against you being possessive. We aren't in the stone-age; women are allowed to claim things as their possessions." He tilted his head, appraising her with his eyes. "In most cases it's actually pretty hot."

"Are you kidding me?" Finn shot him a disgusted look. "Do you ever think of anything that doesn't involve sex?"

"I was under the impression you had the same problem Spacewalker. How many girlfriends do you have these days?"

"You guys-" Clarke stopped suddenly, noting the obvious shape moving towards them.

"I don't know what you think you know about my _situation,_ but you don't have a God damn idea what you're talking about."

"Guys-" The shape was definitely getting closer. They needed to figure out a plan, fast. She pulled her knife free; her grip tightened until her knuckles turned white.

"Some situation you've gotten yourself in. Tell me, how does one find themselves- Clarke what the fuck are you doing?" Bellamy's shout of surprise came too late; Clarke had already moved towards the shape, swinging her knife in front of her in a wide arc. An eerie shriek split the air and a panther, much like the one that attacked them on their first day on earth, fell to the ground dead.

"Saving your asses." She was slightly out of breath, her hands shaking with adrenalin. Both boys were staring at her with something akin to wonder. "Now I don't have time to mediate your little argument; in case you both forgot we have bigger problems than who's sleeping with who." She shot them a withering look and was surprised to see both of them deflate, Finn more so than Bellamy. "We are literally minutes away from meeting the grounders. Get your shit together or stay here. It's your choice." She gestured for them to follow her, only moving from her spot once they had walked past her. Given any other situation, the way they were listening to her would have been amusing.

The next five minutes passed with little incident, much to Clarke's relief; the boys seemed to finally be grasping the situation at hand. "Here we go." Finn stopped, gesturing to the clearing before them. "Lincoln said he'd meet us here."

"You're on a first name basis?" Bellamy's sneer was cut off by a grounder swinging gracefully out of the tree in front of them. Clarke took a step back before getting control of herself; she could not afford to show weakness in front of these people.

"I told you to only bring your blonde healer." The grounder spoke in surprisingly fluent English, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Bellamy.

"I was just going to bring her but-"

"I was told that this would be a meeting for leaders." Clarke interjected, squaring her shoulders towards the man in front of her. "I am not the only leader of our people." She kept her voice level and even, not wanting to spark an angry reaction.

"You share leadership?"

"Yes." She gestured from herself to Bellamy. "We are a team. Any negotiations that happen will need to have both of us present in order for them to hold any weight."

The grounder, Lincoln, inclined his head in what she could only assume was acceptance. He gripped his spear tighter, head snapping to stare across the clearing. "They are here." Not even seconds after he spoke, two sleek black horses carrying riders burst through the trees at the other side of the clearing. Clarke felt her eyes widen in surprise; she had thought all of the horses would have died out years ago.

"Horses." Bellamy sounded just as awestruck as she felt; she sent a small smile his way, showing him that she had picked up on his accidental outburst. He carefully schooled his expression back into his trademark scowl. "You ready for this, Princess?"

"Are you?" She shot back at him, her own smile fading; a blonde woman got off one of the horses, making her way towards the center of the clearing. "That's our cue." And together they stepped out of the covering of trees, into open space.

* * *

Abby Griffin sat on the cold hard floor, her back against the metal frame of the bed. The previous days' events ran through her mind on a continuous loop. _Clarke hating her. The Arc dying. Only one drop ship. Thousands of people being left for dead. Seeing Clarke again. _She was driving herself mad, solitary confinement not helping her scattered thoughts. It also didn't help that she had been placed in Clarke's old cell; one of the guards had a seriously twisted sense of humor.

The drawings on the walls around her were like strategically placed blows to her mind. If she hadn't known any better, she almost would have thought that her daughter had made sure to leave her mark on the Arc. She was trying not to look at them, anything to keep herself from collapsing in absolute grief; she needed to stay focused, needed to try and figure out how to save everyone. _It's impossible!_ Abby closed her eyes, taking deep measured breathes. Unintentionally her tired mind dragged a memory to the surface of her mind, a memory that she had suppressed.

"_I can't do it. I don't know what I was thinking, Jake. I'm eight months pregnant and I can't even put together a crib!" Abby cried hysterically from her spot on the floor among the crib pieces. Jake Griffin stood in the door way; he obviously hadn't expected to return home to this._

"_You don't have to put the crib together." He knelt down in front of her, prying the screw driver from her white knuckled grip. "I'm sure I can manage by myself. I am a mechanic after all." His soft smile did nothing to calm her._

"_How am I supposed to look after our child? I'm not ready to be a mother! I have no idea what I'm doing!" She sobbed, curling into his warm embrace. "I'm starting to think that we are trying to do the impossible."_

"_What the Arc needs," He started carefully, brushing the tears from her eyes. "Is more people who specialize in the impossible."_

"_You don't mean that." But her early fears began to dissipate all the same._

"_Abby Griffin, you are the most stubborn, headstrong woman I have ever met." Jake smiled lovingly at her. "Our daughter will be lucky to have you for a mother." _

"_You can't leave me." She warned him softly. "I need you too much."_

"_I'm not going anywhere."_

"What the Arc needs is more people who specialize in the impossible." She repeated to herself, gripping a small piece of charcoal in her hand; a piece that Clarke had most likely used. Finding an open piece of floor Abby sucked in sharp breath before she began to draw.

* * *

Clarke could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she made her way with Bellamy towards the Grounder leader. The other woman was tall and willowy, her blonde hair an intricate, braided mess. She wore the black face paint that they had come to associate with all of the grounders. She looked deadly. They stopped mere feet away from each other, tension building in the space between them.

"You are Clarke." She spoke in a husky voice, the words more of a statement than a question.

"Yes." Clarke answered, feeling significantly inferior to the obviously confident leader in front of her.

"I am Anya. You were told to come alone." Her eyes slid to Bellamy with interest.

"I was told that this was a meeting of leaders." She explained to the other woman, using the same reason she had given Lincoln. "We are both responsible for the safety of our people."

"Your name, Sky Person." The demand didn't sit well for Clarke; they were here to negotiate, not be ordered around.

"Play your cards right, and maybe I'll let you have it." His voice had dropped an octave, turning it into one she had heard numerous times before; Bellamy was flirting with the grounder.

She expected Anya to stab him for his disrespect, at the very least she expected her to punch him, but to her surprise the other leader just smiled in amusement. "You are very bold." Clarke bit her tongue before she could make a scathing remark; she should have guessed that no woman would be immune to Bellamy's charm, even if said woman was a grounder.

"You have no idea." Alright now she was going to put a stop to it.

"I thought we were here to discuss peace between our people?" Clarke raised an eyebrow at the dark expression Anya threw her way. _Deal with it Bitch. _

"You only want peace because you have started a war that you don't know how to finish." Anya declared, turning her attention back to the task at hand.

"You are the ones who have been killing our people! We didn't start this."

"You invaded our territory."

"We didn't know that there were survivors on Earth. We didn't mean to invade."

"You also burn a village to the ground with your missiles." Anya looked pissed. "Hundreds were wounded and killed. If this is not an act of war, I don't know what is."

"Missiles?" A dark wave of horror washed through her; she shot a frantic look at Bellamy who seemed to have come to the same realization as her. "No those were signals. We were trying to let our people know that we are still alive down here. That it is safe for them to come down."

"That makes no difference. You killed my people."

"And you have killed ours." Both women stared each other down, neither one was willing to back down first. In a surprising turn of events, it was Bellamy who spoke first.

"There has been too much killing." Clarke looked at him like he had grown a second head. _Who the fuck was this and what had he done with Bellamy? _Where was the guy who had single-handedly lead a party out with the intention of capturing the grounder who had stabbed Finn? Sure they had come back empty handed, but his intent was clear: an eye for an eye.

"Yes there has been." Just because she didn't know what the hell Bellamy was doing didn't mean that she didn't agree with him.

"You wish to call a truce?"

"Yes. We will be of more use to each other if we end the bloodshed."

"Will your people, the ones who have yet to fall from the Sky, honor any agreements we make today?"

"We will do everything within our power to make sure that they do." She ignored the look Bellamy shot her; the look that clearly said: _how the hell do you plan on doing that?_

"I will only promise peace through the winter. We will renegotiate in the spring." Anya stepped forward, extending her left hand to Clarke. Clarke hesitantly reached out with her own left hand, not entirely sure where this was going. The grounder leader grasped her hand firmly, her grip more forceful than was probably necessary. "It is a custom for treaties to be solidified with a marriage between important figures within the agreement."

"Oh, ummm-" The realization as to what was happening hit Clarke hard. "I'm sorry but I don't _involve _myself with girls."

"Not you and I!" Anya's laughter only served to embarrass Clarke more. "I was talking about him." Him meaning Bellamy.

"He is already spoken for within our community." She didn't even give Bellamy a chance at replying; he was not going to run off with the Grounder Queen.

"It is such a shame," Anya let her eyes run blatantly down his body with dark hunger. "But I can understand how a man like him would already be spoken for. We will forgo the marriage ceremony, for now."

"We will renegotiate in spring. There will be no surprise attacks before that time." Anya nodded in agreement before pulling Clarke roughly towards her; Clarke didn't struggle but her hand went to her hidden knife, prepared to pull it out and defend herself.

"You are stronger with him around. Make sure he stays by your side." The grounders voice was low enough that only Clarke could hear her. Without responding, Clarke jerked her arm out of the other woman's grasp and stepped back. Bellamy's warm hand found her shoulder, settling her in a way that only he could.

They watched as Anya turned and left, quickly remounting her horse and riding off; her entourage fallowed quickly behind, leaving the two of them in the clearing alone. "I'm already spoken for back at the camp, huh?" His eyes twinkled in amusement down at her.

"If you hadn't been flirting with her, she wouldn't have wanted to marry you." Clarke shot back, rolling her eyes at his amusement. "And I'm sure one of the many girls that have entered your tent think they have some kind of claim over you."

"I was _trying_ to get her to let her guard down, is that a bad thing?" They turned to head back to where Finn was waiting anxiously. "And if I'm not mistaken, you were in my tent earlier tonight."

"You are an idiot!" She spat at him, her usual venom not coming through; she blamed the fact that the peace with the grounders had made her too giddy to muster up any anger. "I meant your bed buddies."

"Bed buddies? How old are you?" She stuck her tongue out at him in response, causing them both to laugh. "Just so you know, what you walked in on back at camp, it wasn't what it looked like. She was waiting for me; I didn't even know she was there until a couple of seconds before you showed up."

"You don't have to give me any explanations, Bellamy. What you do in your own tent is your business." She tried to act casual about the whole ordeal, but in reality she was strangely pleased that he felt the need to explain; she was also feeling a bit ashamed for her earlier actions, but she was sure she would get over it. For the time being she figured it would be best if she changed the subject. "We should hurry back to where we left that panther; I have bragging rights for making that kill."

"Whatever you want Princess." He seemed to understand what she was doing, but didn't put a stop to it. And if there was a double meaning to his words, well she wasn't going to think about it just yet.

**AN: Alright, I hope you all liked this chapter. I took some creative license with Anya (Sorry if anyone didn't like the way I changed her) and I thought it worked out well for where I want my story to go. I had some difficulty writing Lincoln; he's such a bad ass character that I can't do him justice! I also didn't read over this chapter as well as I should have (I just wanted to get it out to you so bad.) Hopefully the grammar and spelling is up to par. As always comments and criticism are greatly appreciated!**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Hello again everyone! The response to last chapter was absolutely amazing. I had this chapter finished before the season finale, (And what a finale that was. I'm still not emotionally stable.) but some of the events (mainly Jaha being all self-sacrificing) made me rethink some of the aspects I had already written. So I scrapped what I had written and started over. I hope that you guys like this chapter as much as you seemed to like the last one!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or settings pertaining to this universe; I am just playing with them. **

_Five days._ It didn't seem like a lot of time, in all reality it _wasn't _a lot of time; but on Earth, where each hour of survival was an accomplishment, it was a life time. A life time spent within the confines of the drop ship, covered in seaweed paste and dried blood, working tirelessly to patch up the steady stream of patients. Where time passed slowly in the solitary confines of the ship; only the sparse tidbits of information about the camp gleaned from the few conscious visitors made the time pass a bit faster. Progress of great proportions had been made towards the buildings, and Bellamy was confident that they would both be finished soon.

A small smile worked its way onto her face as she methodically sterilized the drop ship with some of Monty's moonshine. When they had come back from the grounder meeting, dead panther in tow, everyone had been excited about the prospect of fresh meat. To her surprise, Bellamy hadn't taken the glory for the kill; he had told anyone who would listen about how she had taken the panther out with only a small knife. Had she not known any better, she almost would have thought he was proud of her. It was because of his praise that she could now walk through the camp, and feel many eyes watching her with a new-found respect; if she was being honest, it was a nice change from the hostile looks she used to get.

She wasn't exactly sure what was happening with her infuriatingly egocentric co-leader, however; the changes that had occurred in him the past few days had been, _interesting_ to say the least_._ After the whole tent debacle, Bellamy seemed to be going out of his way to make a show out of the fact that he no longer was entertaining _guests_. On more than one occasion, Clarke had witnessed a disgruntled girl storming angrily out of his tent, clothing in hand; not that she was watching his tent or anything (because she _wasn't_ not matter what Octavia thought.) The whole camp had witnessed these rejections. She had figured that this little dry spell, _five days had to be a record for him_, would have had negative effects on his already sunny personality but she was proven wrong. Bellamy Blake was fucking smiling; he wasn't _supposed_ to smile. It was the thought of his smile that made her grin grow a little bigger; she was probably just imagining it, but she could have sworn that his smile had the ability to brighten even her darkest moods.

And that was another one of the changes taking place in her life: Bellamy had become a permanent fixture in her daily routine, something to look forward to after her day of solitude. Every day, when the sun's rays dipped below the tree line and the builders trickled back to the center of camp, she could expect him to stop off at the drop ship before doing anything else. At first, they simply talked about injuries and the progress of the structures before heading their separate ways, but it quickly became more. Bellamy started to bring their rations with him, and they would eat in the drop ship away from the judging eyes of their people, talking about anything and everything; it was these moments that she craved throughout the day. It was these moments that made her feel like everything was going to be alright.

"Clarke." His deep timber broke her from her musings; she turned to look at the man behind her, blushing slightly due to the fact that her stomach flipped at the sight of him. She mentally slapped herself in response: she was being stupid.

"Why aren't you out with your group, Bellamy?" She tossed the alcohol soaked rag she had been using on the table and stretched out her arms.

"Accusing me of slacking?" He crossed his arms in an attempt at intimidation, but the mischievous twinkle in his eye marred the effect.

"Accusing is such an ugly word. I'd say that I'm simply stating the facts."

"My mistake, I figured you'd want to see what's going on outside." He stepped forward, nodding his head towards the bed she had just been scrubbing. "But if you're too busy cleaning I can just leave and put a stop to my _slacking_."

"What's going on outside?" She asked, instantly regretting it when she saw the satisfied expression on his face; she had played right into his hands.

"Are you going to play nice?"

"Just tell me, Blake." She rolled her eyes, tossing one of the wet rags in his direction. He dodged it easily, his grin so carefree that it took her breath away.

"No need to get violent, Princess. Follow me." He left the drop ship as silently as he had entered it, Clarke following quickly behind him. She was surprised to at how warm it had gotten since her day in the drop ship had started.

"I don't know what you are so excited abo-"She stopped mid-sentence, her words dying in her throat. Her eyes roamed the structure before her, so much bigger than what she had imagined on paper. "It's finished?"

"Completely." He nudged her shoulder playfully with his elbow. "I told you we'd finish it today. The other one is almost finished as well, we just need to put on the roof." He barely got the words out of his mouth before Clarke had thrown her arms around him with an excited squeal.

"We did it!" She felt his deep laugh resonate through her smaller frame and was instantly embarrassed by her sudden loss of composure; she quickly let go of him, her face flaming. "Sorry."

"I didn't mind." The smug grin on his face wasn't as unpleasant as it used to be. "You need to learn how to let go more often." _How did he manage to make everything sound sexual? _"Octavia said she was saving you a spot next to her, you might want to go find her." He pushed her slightly towards the door, not giving her anytime to wrap her head around the sudden change in topic, before turning to leave. She watched him for a bit before pushing aside the heavy grass mat hanging in the doorway and stepping into the building. There was nothing fancy about the interior, just one large room to be shared by all of the girls, but Clarke couldn't help feeling a flash of pride at what stood before her. They were going to survive because of this simple building.

"Clarke! Over here!" Octavia's excited voice drew her attention to the far corner of the room where the brunette was already sitting with her stuff. Clarke quickly made her way to the other girl, pausing briefly to admire the stone pit that would allow them to start a fire to keep warm. "This is going to be great. Raven is going to sleep here, and you are going to sleep over here. We get to have a sleepover every night!" She smiled fondly at the younger girl, her enthusiasm was contagious.

"You sure you can handle it?" She teased.

"Please, I spent most of my life with only Bellamy as company. Talk about a never ending sleepover from hell." They both laughed. "You should go grab your stuff before my brother decides to re-assign your tent."

"He wouldn't dare."

"You sure about that?" Instead of answering her question, Clarke stood and turned to leave. "Hurry back!" _The Blake siblings attitudes were going to drive her insane._

* * *

"Just listen to what I am trying to say! We can save everyone if we just take the entire Arc down to Earth." Abby Griffin struggled angrily against the guards who were holding her in place.

"Dr. Griffin, with all due respect, what you are proposing is completely insane. The chances of anyone surviving reentry would be slim at best." Sinclair shook his head sadly, scrolling through his calculations. "I'm sorry."

"I refuse to sit by and let thousands of people die. Thelonious, please." She turned her head towards her old friend, trying to get him to understand; he had been eager to hear her idea when she had first been brought into the council room but now his enthusiasm seemed to have waned.

"I'm sorry Abby. The risk is too great." He sounded defeated. "Our original plan still stands. The exodus ship will be launching in fifteen hours."

"You can't-"

"I don't have a choice. Leave us for a moment." The two guards holding her left obediently, with Sinclair following slightly behind them.

"I thought you cared more about your people. I can't believe that you are going to go to Earth and wash your hands of the ones left behind." Her words were intended to hurt him, something she hadn't tried to do in a very long time.

"You are mistaken. I'm not the one going to Earth, you are." It took a while for the meaning of his words to work their way through her anger. "You're not coming with us?"

"No." He passed a hand wearily across his face.

"But you'll _die._"

"I should have died with any of the 720 others who have already sacrificed themselves. The least I can do is stay behind with the rest of our doomed people."

"We need you, Thelonious. You can't just send us to Earth without our leader."

"You need to be with your daughter and I need to be with my son." Her heart cracked at his words, at the show of pain he'd been keeping in check all of this time. Temporarily forgetting her anger, Abby pulled her friend into a hug. "Diana Sydney will be on the drop ship with you. She knows how to lead a large group of people. You will be fine."

"She was voted out of power because of the people on the Arc. They chose you over her, and for good reason." Her voice softened as she continued. "Do you really think that Wells would have wanted you to sacrifice yourself?"

"He would have hated me, if he could see what I'm planning to do the majority of my people." She knew he was crying, and her heart cracked even more. Her oldest friend was struggling with an impossible situation, and all she had done was fight and spit hateful words at him. She might be the best doctor on the Arc, but she had no idea to fix the mess surrounding them.

"Then live and prove that you care about your people and what happens to them on Earth. Live so that you can make sure that the survivors are taken care of." She could feel his hesitation so she continued with more force. "What would you do if I decided to repent my sins by sacrificing myself with the thousands who will remain? I know you Thelonious. There is no way in hell that you would allow me to do that."

"You are the best doctor we have-"

"There are lots of capable doctors who would suffice. We only have one Chancellor. Please. Come with us." They didn't say anything else, they didn't have to; she knew he would be on the exodus ship with her. Clinging tighter to the man in front of her, she tried not to think about just how selfish of a person she truly was. His life would always mean more to her than the thousands they were leaving behind, and she was strangely alright with that.

* * *

The first thing that Clarke noticed when she stepped into her tent was that someone other than herself had been there recently. The stack of drawings she had knocked over earlier that morning, when she had rushed from her tent to treat a patient, was once again piled neatly on the crude table. She turned to check if anything else had been moved and froze; sitting on her make shift bed was a large black shape. Her hand shot to the knife she kept on herself at all times and she drew it with steady hands. She inched forward slowly, careful not to startle whatever was in her tent, and immediately felt stupid when she realized that the _intruder _was in fact an inanimate object and had no way of attacking her. Stowing her knife back in her belt, Clarke reached her hand out grabbed onto the surprisingly soft material. Upon further inspection, she saw that it was a blanket made from the pelt of the panther she had killed. She slid her hand along the length of if, reveling in the softness under her touch; cold winter nights suddenly didn't seem so daunting. Someone had made this for her, making it easily the nicest gift she had ever received on Earth. _Who would have had time to do this? _

She packed up her few belongings, trying not to dwell on the fact that she hardly owned anything, and stepped out of the tent bringing the panther blanket with her. Movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention to the other unfinished building; Bellamy was perched on top of one of the walls, adding planks to the unfinished roof. The sight of his shirtless back, his muscles covered in a light sheen of sweat from the effort of lifting, made her mouth go dry. He really wasn't making it easy for her to keep her feelings purely platonic.

As if sensing her eyes on him, Bellamy turned to look at her; even from this distance she could see the way his dark eyes shone with amusement. Clarke quickly dropped her eyes, clutching the blanket tighter. _Wait a minute. _Previous embarrassment forgotten, she strode quickly to where he was working.

"Something I can help you with, Princess?" He called down to her, hardly stopping his progress on the roof.

"Would you happen to know anything about this?" She held the blanket up so that he could see it, ignoring the curious glances she was getting from the other boys working on the roof.

"Why would I know anything about your blanket?" The indifference in his voice made her pause slightly before continuing.

"It's not mine. Somebody skinned the panther I killed when we went out to meet with the Grounders. I found it in my tent a couple of minutes ago." She pushed on, trying to get his attention.

"I'm still not seeing why this involves me. Someone gave you a blanket; go put it on your bed."

"I can't accept it." Bellamy snapped his head up to look at her, his expression unreadable. _Well that got his attention_.

"Why the hell not? You killed the damn thing." He stretched his arms over his head while shooting her an exasperated look. He really needed to put his shirt back on before she did something stupid.

"I can't accept it because I didn't make it myself. The person who made it might need it more than I do."

"If the person could make a blanket for you, I'm sure he can make more for himself. He probably already has."

"He?" Clarke asked innocently, smiling at the fact that he had just given her more leverage in her little game.

"With all of your new found _admirers_, I just assumed it was a he." He looked down at her, raising an eyebrow at her grin. "What?" She shook her head in amusement, trying to figure out the best way to answer his question.

"You say 'admirers' like it's a bad thing. If I'm not mistaken it's your fault that they are even noticing me at all." She lifted her chin defiantly, taking pleasure in the way the muscle in his jaw twitched.

"I'm just saying that anyone could have done this."

"Maybe I should try to track them down."

"And do what?"

"_Thank _them." She emphasized the word 'thank' enough that she hoped it came off as being an innuendo of sorts; if the way that his shoulders stiffened, and his body tensed were any indication, it did. She held his dark gaze for a second longer, instantly becoming aware of the leers she was receiving from some of the other guys on the roof_._ _It was probably time to make an exit. _"Well I'd better go, try not to fall off the roof. I don't want to have to doctor you up again."

"Clarke." His voice held warning to it, clearly she had pushed him too far; but she could feel his eyes burning into her back as she walked away. Feeling bold she added a bit of swing to her step, the heat of his gaze spreading through her body.

"Oh and Bellamy." She turned to look at him over her shoulder and flashed him a smirk when she saw the stunned look on his face. "Thanks for the blanket."

**AN: And that my friends, is what happens when I try to write when I am overly emotional: fluff galore. I hope you guys don't mind the little time skip; I needed to move things along a bit faster, otherwise I feel like this story would become extremely boring and repetitive. I edited this story after getting only 3 hours of sleep, so any grammar or spelling errors can be blamed on that. Let me know if anything is too bad. As always, comments and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated.**

**AN 2: Seeing that I have finals over the next two weeks, I might not be able to update until after they are all done. I'll try to get something out before then, but my marks come first!**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Hey everyone! I know I said that I probably wouldn't be posting anything while I was writing my finals, but I lied. I should be studying right now, but inspiration hit while I was studying history (Don't ask how it just did) and I just had to write. Thanks again for all of the lovely reviews, you guys are awesome! I hope you all enjoy what I have in store for you!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or settings pertaining to this universe; I am just playing with them. **

"So where did you get the blanket?" Octavia's smug face is the first thing that Clarke focuses on upon opening her eyes. _When had she fallen asleep? _ Blinking a couple time in quick succession she sat up, pushing her messy hair out of her face. She remembered getting her stuff from her tent and, _oh God, _flirting with Bellamy, before making her way back to the newly erected building. She must have fallen asleep shortly after that.

"How long have I been asleep?" Her hand brushed against the softness of the blanket, causing a grin to spread its way across her face.

"I don't know. It's dark out now, if that means anything to you." It didn't. "But don't try and change the subject. Where did you get the blanket? Secret admirer?" Octavia's pushiness was definitely not appreciated so soon after waking up. There was something about the way the younger was talking that made Clarke think she knew more than she was letting on.

"No secret admirer O, just your brother." She rolled her eyes, remembering the way he had adamantly denied knowing anything about the beautiful present.

"And why, exactly, is my brother giving you blankets that he made himself?" She raised an eyebrow, tapping the blanket with her index finger as if to get her point across; what her point was exactly still remained a mystery.

"I don't- how am I supposed to know?" Clarke could feel her face heating with the beginning of a blush. Looking for a distraction, she spotted Raven stepping through the door and waved her over. "I was going to ask you how Finn's stitches are-"

"Oh no you don't! You aren't getting out of this conversation that easily." Octavia interjected, earning a glare from Clarke and a curious glance from Raven.

"Why do I feel like I'm missing something here?" The mechanic asked, eyeing the two girls before her suspiciously.

"We were just discussing Clarke's new blanket." Octavia supplied, her eyes never leaving Clarke; if she didn't know any better she would have thought the other girl was expecting her to bolt.

"It's very nice." Raven still looked extremely confused. Maybe she _could _escape without Octavia noticing.

"Turns out my brother gave it to her." Twin smirks were exchanged and all of Clarke's hopes for escape evaporated.

"Oh really?" Raven touched the blanket, feeling the softness underneath her fingertips. "So does that mean you two are…" She trailed off, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh God no!" She protested, maybe a bit too strongly. "That is never going to happen. Not in a million years."

"Well something is going on between you two." Octavia insisted, crossing her arms as if it made her statement more true.

"Ya. It's called friendship."

"My brother doesn't just hand out gifts to people. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one he's even given a gift to before now."

"People change."

"Not that much." Octavia narrowed her eyes, like she was inspecting the blonde in front of her. "Why do you think he gave you the blanket then?"

"I'm the one who killed the panther. He was just the one who made it into a blanket. He was just being nice."

"Nice? If there's one thing I've learned since coming to Earth, it is that Bellamy Blake doesn't do nice." Raven's commentary was met by hostile glares from the other women. "No offense or anything."

"Bellamy can be really nice." Clarke defended hotly, not entirely sure why she was getting so angry. "He helps clean the drop ship and he generally cares about the people in camp. He comes by every day after the groups are in to find out how everyone's doing."

"Sounds like he's doing the things that allow him to spend the most time with you."

"No, he's doing his job."

"That's exactly what he has been doing, and you know it Clarke. Has he, or has he not, been eating with you in the drop ship every night?" Octavia's eyes were sparkling dangerously.

"Well yes but-"

"And he has been bragging about your amazing kill non-stop, yes?"

"Yes but-"

"And you just admitted to the fact that he has been interested in your work. I'd say you two are practically married." Octavia's wicked grin only made Clarke scowl.

"I thought we were talking about my blanket? How did we suddenly jump from that to the conclusion that I'm practically married to Bellamy? Which I'm not, for the record."

"Well if you really want to talk about the blanket, we could talk about the real reason he gave it to you." Raven supplied, smugness radiating from her.

"It's obvious really."

"Why don't you two enlighten me as to why you think he gave me the blanket then? And if you say it's because we are practically married I will put you on latrine duty." Clarke crossed her arms, and tilted her head in a show of authority. She would never admit it to anybody, but she was really curious as to what the gift might actually mean.

"No need to get all dictator on us Clarke; we are just calling it like it is."

"And what it is, is Bellamy making sure that you think of him every night before you fall asleep." Octavia's matter of fact tone completely took her by surprise.

"You can't be serious. He would never do that." But even as the words left her mouth, she couldn't help but think that it was exactly the kind of thing Bellamy would do. It was a way to subtly stake claim; but on the other hand, she was pretty sure that the Blake siblings wouldn't know subtlety if it hit them in the face. She shook her head, trying to make sense of her contradicting thought. "You guys are reading way more into this than you should be. He gave me a blanket. A blanket made from the animal _I _killed. End of Story." She stood up quickly, determined to put as much distance between herself and the conversation possible.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to…" She trailed off, looking for a suitable excuse for leaving.

"Clarke, we need you out here. Maverick managed to fall of the roof of the other building. We need him looked at." Bellamy burst through the door, ignoring the shrieks that erupted from the other girls present. Clarke wasn't sure if she should be happy or not that he had chosen this exact moment to make an entrance.

"You can't just barge in here like that." She scolded him; a look of confusion worked its way onto his face. "This is the girls building. Which means that they should be able to expect privacy."

"It's not like I haven't seen most of it anyway." The look she threw at him conveyed exactly what she thought of his statement. "Besides I wouldn't have had to barge in here if you had been in the drop ship. Where you are _supposed to be._"

"I'm sorry for taking a couple of seconds for myself. It's not my fault that he fell off the roof." She huffed at him, making her way towards the door.

"I'm not sure how long a couple of seconds are to you, but you were in here for a couple hours regular person time." Smart ass comments were something she didn't have time to deal with right now.

"Keeping tabs on me?"

"You wish, Princess." The smirk he sent her way caused her to roll her eyes.

"I don't think anyone ever wishes for a stalker, Bellamy."

"It's not stalking if the stalk-e enjoys it."

"Did you just seriously use the term stalk-e to prove that you aren't stalking?" She couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled up as they left the building.

"We can talk about this later; in case you forgot, there's a kid out there who just fell off a roof." He reminded her, effectively bringing her back down to her usual business like attitude.

"Yes of course. Let's go." She led the way out of the door, but not before she heard Octavia's joyful 'I knew there was something going on between them!'

* * *

"Alright. I'm going to need you to lean back a little so I can make sure you didn't break any of your ribs." Clarke's voice may have been cool and professional, but she was growing more and more uncomfortable with each passing minute. Maverick was one of the older members in the camp, and his whole demeanor was slightly off putting; his flint grey eyes had a cold almost calculating look, and she didn't particularly like the way he was watching her. He did as instructed, and she slid her hand carefully along his sides, testing for any pain. He flinched slightly when she pressed down on the top of his left side. "Did that hurt?" He didn't answer her. "Look I'm trying to help you here but if you don't communicate with me I can't do anything." She lifted the edge of his shirt, pushing it up to reveal a rather large bruise already painting his side.

Making sure she wouldn't hurt him more, Clarke gently prodded along the lines of his ribs, checking for any abnormal lumps. "I'm not feeling any protrusions, so that's good. At most there could be a hairline fracture but I can't tell without an x-ray." She slid her fingers down a bit lower and was not at all prepared for the reaction she received. Maverick jerked back in pain, his big hand coming up to clasp her shoulder in a crushing grip. "Shit sorry. I didn't mean to…" She trailed off with a frown when instead of letting her go, his grip tightened. "Ummm, ow. Grips a little tight there." The grin that she received at that admission made her blood run cold. "Let go." She tried to pull away ,but his grip only tightened further, making her cry out in pain.

"If you want to keep your hands, I suggest you keep them to yourself." Bellamy's booming voice reminded Clarke that she wasn't alone; in fact, it reminded her that he had been there the entire time. All of the panicked feelings melted away and she drew a deep, shaky breathe as Maverick slowly let go of her wrist. "Now get out."

"But I'm not done-"

"Princess, you're done." Bellamy cut her off, his voice holding a clear warning; she turned to glare at him only to be struck mute by the pure look of anger on his face. "Maverick leave; If anything like this happens again, you will be banished." The other boy left without even acknowledging the threat; and uneasy silence filled the drop ship.

Tense seconds tick by before Clarke's anger got the best of her. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, but this is _my _drop ship. You don't get to just walk in here and start barking orders. Especially when those orders interfere with my job!" She hadn't meant to start yelling, but once she had started she couldn't stop.

"What did you want me to do? Just let the events play out however the hell they wanted?" He shot back, with equal amount of volume.

"I had it under control."

"That was control? For fuck sake Clarke, how stupid can you be? Do you even know what he did to be locked up?" Bellamy propelled himself forward, stalking towards her with dangerous intent; she held her ground, refusing to back down.

"You expect me to know what everyone down here did to get locked up?" She let out a harsh laugh. "You don't even remember half of their names!"

"I know enough to keep an eye on the ones who are dangerous. We are down here with criminals; not all of them are here for innocent crimes. You need to learn how to watch out for yourself."

"Says the guy who shot the Chancellor." She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth, but she was not going to apologize.

"Yes. I am one of the dangerous ones down here. You'd benefit from remembering it." They were standing so close to each other that there was virtually no space between their bodies. His dark eyes glinted and she found herself shivering in response. "But I'm not the only dangerous one down here. Maverick was imprisoned for raping and then beating a girl to death. I've had my men keeping tabs on him since we've gotten down here." She tried to keep the shock off of her face, but knew she was failing miserably; the reasoning for Bellamy's out of character decision to stay in the drop ship while she worked was suddenly very clear.

"I don't need you looking after me!"

"I think a simple thank you would do." A smug smirk worked its way onto his face and she fought the urge to smack it off of him. "I wouldn't say no to a kiss." She acted without thinking and her hand came up to slap him; he anticipated her action, catching her small wrist in his bigger hand. They stood there for a moment or two, not exactly sure what was going to happen next. Her eyes flicked to his lips and she couldn't help but think how easy it would be to just lean up those extra few inches and-

"Clarke! Bellamy! The Exodus ship is- woah. Shit sorry." Jasper's surprised voice was enough to bring Clarke back from her fantasies; she also realized that the way she was leaning into Bellamy would look pretty intimate to anyone who walked in.

She quickly stepped away, a bright pink blush working painting her cheeks. "What about the Exodus ship?"

"Oh umm, we think we saw it land just over the hill." The goggled boy looked ready to bolt. "We aren't sure though."

"It's early." Her eyes found Bellamy, the fight they had been having only seconds ago completely forgotten. "Oh my god! We aren't ready for this."

"Jasper, I want you to go get all of our trained guns men, Finn, Raven, and Monty." Bellamy's authoritative voice was strangely lacking conviction. "Get Octavia too. She'll throw a fit if we leave her behind. We leave in five minutes."

"Yes sir!" Jasper saluted and practically ran back out the door.

"Bellamy, we need to think this through. They aren't going to be too happy to see you."

"I have thought this through. It's all I've thought about since we found out that the Arc was on its way down here. I have to face the consequences for my actions."

"You aren't just going to walk up to them and turn yourself over! I won't let you." She fought the urge to stamp her foot.

"It's not your decision, Princess." He smiled sadly at her. "Just, promise me that if things go badly, you'll get the hell out of there. Our people still need you."

"They need you too."

"The need a strong voice to lead them. You can do it." Bellamy's hand came to rest on her shoulder, squeezing gently. "Look after Octavia for me."

"How can you be so passive about dying?"

"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."

"Who's the idiot who told you that?" Clarke snapped, angrier at the situation than at Bellamy.

"I read it in one of the history books on the Arc." He shrugged, gesturing towards the door. "You ready to change some lives?"

"I'm more worried about saving lives."

* * *

"Is everyone alright?" Abby Griffin called out, un-buckling herself from her seat; all around her, people began to unbuckle as well. On unsteady legs, the occupants eventually made their way towards the door that had yet to be opened.

"Abby." She turned to see Chancellor Jaha standing behind her, his face withdrawn; he looked much older now than he did before. "Would you do the honors of opening the doors?" With shaking hands, she reached out for the lever, pulling it down with one quick yank. At first nothing happened and the initial panic of being trapped reared its head; however, a loud clang resounded through the ship and the doors began to open. Darkness greeted them.

"Can you see anything?" Abby wasn't sure who had uttered the question, but she heard it muttered again and again throughout the crowd behind her.

"It's night." She supplied, cautiously taking the first steps out of the ship. Darkness enveloped her as the sweet smell of the air around her pulled her farther away from the safety of the Exodus ship. Tilting her head back, she gasped as she took in the wide expanse of stars above her; they looked so far away. Eventually others joined her under the expanse of stars, laughter and tears flowing freely. _They were on Earth!_

"People of the Arc!" Thelonious's voice rang out, calling his people to look at him. "We have finally made it! We are on Earth." Cheers met his words and he offered a brief smile. "We must thank all of the ones who have sacrificed themselves in order to make this a possibility. A moment of silence for our saviors." Heads titled back up to look at the sky, towards the eternal resting place of thousands of innocent people. Abby felt her heart break a little at the proceedings; she had selfishly sacrificed others in order to return to her daughter. "We need to stick close. We are un-aware of the dangers that the Earth holds." He continued after an appropriate amount of time.

"Well then I guess it's a good thing we're here, isn't it Jaha?" A male voice called from the darkness, sounding far too smug. Cries of surprise and fear rang out as people backed towards the ship. The light of torches coming through the trees illuminated the face of the speaker; he was a young man with dark hair and a smirk pasted on his face. Abby immediately recognized him as Bellamy Blake: the man who had shot her dearest friend. Just as she made this realization, movement on his right caught her attention. A flash of blonde hair caused her heart to skip a beat and she felt her eyes begin to water; her little girl was alive.

"Clarke!" She cried with happiness, stumbling a couple steps towards her only to be stopped in her tracks by the frosty look she received in return. Her little girl hated her.

* * *

"Well then I guess it's a good thing we're here, isn't it Jaha?" Bellamy's idea of making an entrance made her role her eyes; the surprised cries from the newly landed Arc people only made her want to hit him more. Her eyes scanned the group of people huddled closely together as their small group walked into the clearing. Her eyes flipped carefully through the faces in front of her; she wouldn't admit it to anybody, but she was looking for her mother.

"Clarke!" The exclamation of happiness ripped at her chest. She couldn't do this, not right now. Schooling her features into one of indifference, Clarke met her mother's joyful advance with a cool stare. Her mother seemed to waver for a couple steps before finally stopping, a hurt look on her face. Clarke was aware of Bellamy's eyes on her, but she chose to ignore them; she was already feeling guilty for the way she had acted.

"Clarke." Jaha's deep voice broke through the awkward tension that had settled between the two groups. "We were not expecting for you to come to us so soon."

"We saw your ship. Although you aren't supposed to even be here yet. Why are you early?" Clarke carefully kept her voice neutral, not entirely sure what was going to come from this conversation.

"We had to push the launch time up. There wasn't time to send a message down."

"Couldn't one of the people still on the Arc have sent one down?" She raised an eyebrow at the looks her mother and the Chancellor exchanged. "What aren't you telling us?"

"You are your mother's daughter, Clarke. I can see how you became leader of the 100." The praise he gave her would have once made her glow; he was the Chancellor after all. Now, however, she bristled at the way he still seemed to still think of her as a child. "We have kept nothing hidden from you. You're being paranoid."

"When you sent us down here with no supplies or weapons, we had to learn to be paranoid." Bellamy answered for her, his eyes narrowing. Clarke took a moment to admire the way that the light from the torches illuminated his face; it was completely irrelevant to the situation, but she just couldn't help herself. "We know when something is being hidden."

"Bellamy Blake." The Chancellors voice took on a hard tone and Clarke immediately went on alert. "I was wondering if you were still alive."

"Sorry to disappoint you." Her co-leaders voice was every bit as hard as the other man's.

"Oh no. You misunderstood. I was hoping I'd find you down here. We have a lot to _discuss_. Punishment for your crime is still required." He turned to Clarke, disapproval written on his face. "I thought you would have kept better company."

"You told us that when you finally came to Earth, that all of our crimes would be forgiven. Bellamy is one of us. He deserves to be pardoned." Clarke pointed out, glaring at the man she once considered an uncle.

"Some crimes are too heinous to be forgiven." He gestured to a couple of the guards, who hesitantly made their way towards the small group of teenagers.

"Anybody tries to touch them and I swear to God I'll shoot!" Octavia snarled; she had snatched the gun from Jasper and had it trained on the guards. "Nobody is taking my brother from me. Not again."

"Let's be reasonable here." Jaha's voice had taken on a soothing quality; however, he under-estimated the pure fury that was Octavia. "Just put the gun down and-"

"Do you think I'm stupid? I'm only going to say this once. Pardon my brother and I won't put a bullet through anybody. Got it?"

"Octavia, enough." Two words were all that it took for Bellamy to effectively re-draw attention to himself. "I fucking shot the guy. I'm pretty sure that has grounds for punishment."

"Like hell it does." She spat back at him, her gun lowering just a bit; Clarke watched in horror as one of the guards, who was still partly shielded in the crowd, pulled out his gun and aimed it directly at Bellamy. Without thinking about the potential consequences, Clarke threw herself in between Bellamy and the gun. Time slowed and she felt his hand come to rest on her shoulder; the gun went off with a bang and Clarke Griffin fell to the ground.

**AN: DON'T HATE ME! I know I am a horrible, terrible person for leaving you on a cliff hanger like that! I already regret doing it, but I just couldn't myself. Also I know that Jaha is still really OC in this chapter; sorry if anybody doesn't like that, but he needs to be a little bit OC in order for this story to work. I tried to catch all of my grammar mistakes, but if anything is too terrible feel free to let me know. Please feel free to leave comments and criticism: they are both greatly appreciated. (Feel free to yell at me for the cliffhanger I left you with!)**

**AN2: I also wanted to mention that Bellamy's line about life and death was taken from the great Martin Luther King Jr. **


End file.
